Third time lucky...?

2024 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #14

I’m very pleased to say, that after another, long, 3 weeks of waiting Lee and I spotted our latest new queen of the season when we inspected the hive this morning! This is the third queen we have needed to rear this year.

The first hadn’t mated properly (due to bad weather) and never started to lay eggs. The second had mated and started to lay rather too many eggs for the space available, the colony became overcrowded and swarmed. Let’s hope queen 3 proves to be like Baby Bear’s chair, porridge, and bed in the Goldilocks fairy tale – just right!

You can see her on the comb today, in these photos that Lee took. If you compare her to the photos of the two earlier queens, you will see that her colouring is very similar to them. She must have mated with drones from the same breed as her half-sisters before her.

She joins us just in time for the Beekeeper by the Hive sessions, that begin tomorrow afternoon (30th July between 1.30pm – 3pm) and for a visit from the Bee Inspector next Monday.

Whew!

Don’t forget, we need a name for this new queen. If you have a suggestion, please let museum staff know the name you have chosen, and tell them your name and age, so that I can mention you in a Bee Blog during the summer holidays.

Linda

The Cliffe Castle Bee Team 2024 is: Steve, Mike, Lee, Anthony and Linda, who are all members of Airedale Beekeepers Association