June 7: Italians Have Eggs!

Very hot day for an inspection, but I was concerned about eggs in the Italian hive and crowding in the Russian hive. The numbers of the Italians are naturally dwindling with their queen troubles, but the remaining workers are still working hard. The frame of Russian brood I had installed last week is capped. I was disappointed to see no eggs in the first 2 frames that I pulled out, but then I spotted some! They look like tiny grains of rice (see picture from the internet) and are quite easy to spot if you have your back to the sun and the frame raised to capture sunlight.

No reason to disturb the Italians any longer once I confirmed queen activity, so I added a second story of 6 new frames in the center and 2 frames of capped honey on each side from last year. The bottom box is all drawn out, so I want to make sure they have some room for expansion. I also thought they might appreciate the gift of honey from last year's bees.

Did you know? It takes 21 days for a new worker bee to emerge from her cell.