2026: Cliffe Castle Bee Blog 4

Lee and I checked the bees this morning (27 April) in glorious warm

sunshine. They are clearly happy to be back at the museum and doing

very well. Queen Beedicca is laying on 8 frames of comb now!

Lee’s photos show just how busy she has been. The queen has laid an

egg in almost every cell on some of the frames. After 3 days, the eggs

become larvae. The frame I am holding, with lots of biscuity-brown

covering on the comb is a nursery, where larvae are hidden in the cells,

changing into baby bees. Just like a caterpillar changes into a butterfly

or a moth in a special container called a chrysalis, honey bee larvae

change into baby bees when their birth cell has that biscuity brown

cover, put there by the nurse bees of the colony.

Over the next few weeks, we will need to make sure that the queen has

enough space to lay more eggs. The colony will start to prepare to

swarm when it feels too cramped in our observation hive. We will have to

keep a close watch for signs of this happening and take action to

prevent the queen leaving, with half of the bees from the hive, to find a

new home.

Today, we took out a frame full of stores and gave them a frame of wax

foundation, to make some more comb for the queen to lay her in eggs in.

Next week, Steve and I will check on how things are going and I’ll keep

you posted.

Linda