A while ago I mentioned on the blog that we were chuffed that the hives both had new queens (that we marked) and saw were laying etc. But since then, for reasons we can't figure out, we have lost one of the queens and it's taken far too long for the hive to replace her. Here are the entries into the hive log book about hive 2:
17th July 2010: Hive 2 - Queenless. Sealed queen cells. All but one destroyed. 2nd super mostly drawn out.
30th July 2010: Hive 2 - No laying queen as yet. Remaining brood all hatched. 2nd super mostly drawn and part full.
12th Aug 2010: Hive 2 - Still no laying queen. Bees are working the balsam (off white pollen).
Presumably with no new brood being raised eventually we'll loose the whole hive. Bees only live on average for 36 days (worker bee) or 22 days (drone) in the summer. With this in mind, and the dates in the log book, we're very close to loosing the whole colony. Arse.
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