The queen cell looked wrong. Too long, and too smooth. But I doubted that I could find a queen for them at this time of year--and the other four hives really can't spare a frame of brood so soon into their own build up.But then I saw this:
Notice the gazillion eggs in each cell. There are also a few cells where an egg is laid on top of pollen. Those two things usually indicate a laying worker. But I've never heard of a queen cell and a laying worker. Nor had anyone on the boards I posted on.
So I shook out the hive--the usual recommendation for dealing with a laying worker, and was lucky enough to get a queen at Dadant. They just happened to have extras. The queen was apparently accepted, since I saw single eggs in cells. I'll check on them again this weekened. If anything has happened to that queen, I'll combine this colony with one of the others.
Meanwhile, the healthy colonies are doing fine. Not as much activity at the entrances as I saw last year, but this is probably the colonies' low point. Most of the bees from the packages have died by now, and the young bees born in the last week or so are still not foraging age. But I do see loads of pollen coming in and lots of syrup being taken.
The dandelions have been blooming, along with forget-me-nots, apple trees, a particular plum tree I have, and I'm sure a lot of things that I don't notice. But I do see bees on all of the above.
I'm collecting pollen from one hive, the one in Max's yard. I bought a pollen trap from Betterbee. It's ok--because my screened bottom board doesn't have "sidebars" there is a gap between the side of the pollen collector and hive that allows the bees to go around the trap. The hooks to hold it on are kind of hard to position. On the plus side, it is working, and pollen is being collected. I decided that the gaps aren't such a bad thing, since that means a fair number of bees get in, pollen intact. And at this point in their cycle, that's a good thing. The brood probably needs plenty now.
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