Swarm Mystery Solved!
Well,Queen Marilyn (Keli’s Bees) are the ones who decided to swarm. Marilyn now lives with her subjects in the Top Bar Hive as I was able capture them in my swarm box. Notice how I have added the approximately 1000 bees left behind to Irene’s hive which is the weaker hive in our Apiary. Otherwise these late hatching left behind bees would all die. We also discovered Irene’s problem. She had plastic foundation rather than bees wax foundation that had not been painted with bees wax. This is unacceptable for the bees and they have been tejecting it. We have now taken both off these boxes off and added a box with wax foundation. Hoping this will inspire her queen to start laying better. The good news for Kelly is I am picking up a new Nuc of bees for her next Saturday and we will get her back in track! This has been a very busy week that has really tested my knowledge of Beekeeping! Glad I went to bee school! Thank you Gaston County Bee Association!
Great!