Friday, August 6, 2010

Regicide


Supersedure seems complete in the Italian hive. The old queen was unceremoniously dumped in front of the hive by a mortuary bee. I've also noticed quite a few randy drones flying about so I imagine the new queen will take her nuptial flight fairly soon. Perhaps the old queen was deposed because this hive has had an agonizingly slow buildup, and they're running out of summer to secure adequate winter stores. I'll leave them alone for a couple of weeks and check for new larvae toward the end of August.

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