2026 Cliffe Castle Blog Post 16

Lee and I checked the colony yesterday (24 August) to see whether we

have a new, mated, queen 21 days after leaving the queen cell found on

3 August. We didn’t spot a new queen, or eggs to suggest that we have

one in the colony – but the bees were very calm and there were polished

cells on the frame that the queen cell had been on. These are positive

signs to suggest that everything is ok, and the queen just needs a little

more time to start laying.

I am hoping we might be able to do another check next week to be clear

whether the colony is going to be ok or whether we will need to unite it

with another queen right colony, when we take them to their winter

quarters on 7 September. Keep your fingers crossed for a positive

outcome and I’ll keep you posted.

For visitors today (25 August), we have Gill and Rick as Beekeepers by

the Hive, to answer your questions and explain what you can see on the

frames. The bees are collecting nectar and pollen from the parkland and

filling up the frames in the hive, making it very heavy to carry. You will be

able to see some of the older bees, that have been outside collecting

food, dancing on the frames to show other bees where they have been

to gather their products. The longer and livelier the dance, the better

quality they consider their stores to be, and they are most likely to recruit

more bees to visit those good food sources.

If you visit the hive before the bees go back to our apiary site for winter,

see if you can find some dancing bees and compare their dances. Which

bee has advertised her food source best and would persuade you to join

her on a return visit?

Linda