So I installed a sparkly brand new queen last Friday. Even though I said I wouldn't check again for two weeks, on Sunday, I did open 'er up to take out the queen cage. She was gone from the cage, replaced by workers who can't resist that sweet sweet queen pheromone. I only took out the cage, released the workers inside, replaced the space I had made in the top box with a frame, and closed the hive.

You can see where they ate through the sugar candy to release her. I opened the screen, they did not do that. There is a hole drilled in the wood at the end, that was her exit. She was presumably down in the hive, safe and sound, and doing her thing. At least that's what I hoped had happened. I'll find out when I find eggs or not.

Today is Saturday, it's sunny and 85°. So definitely no, I did not wait another week to inspect. For a few reasons. It's going to be rainy next weekend, and I would have to wait yet another week after that. I work 9-5 mon-fri, and can only do inspections on the weekends. I need to set my mind at ease and see eggs again because if something dreadful happened to this queen which is always a possibility, I am still running out of time to successfully re-queen and get my hive back on track again. I don't think I should wait 2 or more weeks. Also, and the most suspect reason, I am not a patient person.

So I suited up on this beautiful happy bee weather day and went to work. And the girls approved. Super calm, didn't seem to care at all that I was there. Maybe partly because I am a lot more confident when working the hive and I'm pretty sure bees can smell fear, but also, because they have a queen. And guess what? I found her for you! That paint spot, I mean crown, is the best thing ever.

Her majesty is alive and well! See how much larger she is than the workers? Oh my god Becky, look at her butt!

And more importantly, she is LAYING EGGS! EGGS!!! WE HAVE EGGGGGSSSSS!!! Hallelujah! My hive is going to be ok!!

In this pic, at the tip of the blue arrow, you can see what looks like a tiny miniature grain of rice. That is a bee egg. It is laying down at the bottom of the cell, so it is roughly 3 days old. Sometime tomorrow it will hatch into a larvae. And sometime around October 23rd, a brand new fully formed worker bee will emerge and get right to work. And my hive population will cease to dwindle.

If you look carefully, you can see more eggs in many of the surrounding cells. There were lots of eggs. In a beautiful laying pattern. Queenie is doing all the queen things that a queen should be doing. Queenie is a ROCK STAR.

And thusly, I do hereby proclaim that our new queen shall be now known as Freddie. It is no coincidence that she is also in fact, a Fat Bottomed Girl. And a pretty Killer Queen. Sorry, it's just.. This Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Hahaha Don't Stop Me Now. Ok, ok, I'll quit.

I tried to get video of Freddie laying eggs, but sorry, nope. She did not cooperate for me. That'll be my next quest to complete for you. But here is some video of her wandering around. I planned to just keep recording until she laid an egg, but nope, that didn't happen. And you'll see why I noped out of there.

Once a queen is established, she generally stays in the hive, crawling around searching for a cell to plop an egg in, and moving on to another cell. All day. Every day. She'll only leave in a swarm, or to mate, or probably because she freakin' just felt like it because the beekeeper is creeping on her and won't leave her alone. So yeah, that was enough to freak me out and I closed up the hive. I mean, she just crawled to the other side of the frame, I checked, but nope, nope, nope, that's enough. I'm closing it up. But first, I visually verified where she was and that was easy because of her bright sparkly crown.

Then I very carefully slid the frames together. She's in there, 100% safe and sound. The only place on a frame where she could get squished is on the very left and right sides of the frame, where I can actually see if any bees are in there. I 100% absolutely positively did not squish her.

I am so relieved. My hive is officially queenright again. Freddie is a rock star. All is well. Well, you know, until the next bad thing happens. Oh yes, there will be more bad things in the future for me, for Freddie, and my girls. But we will manage and deal with things when they happen. Such is life. But for now, I am sighing a huge sigh of relief.

In other news, how are the girls doing building out the comb in the top box? Here's how they're doing. Man, they're slow.

But it still looks so neat. And they're already beginning to fill this comb with honey.

Well, it's not really honey yet, it's still mostly nectar. But this is actually nectar and not sugar syrup. I stopped supplying sugar syrup when there was no more brood to feed. This is 100% actual nectar and will become real honey once it dehydrates. And you can bet that I'm gonna taste it when it's ready, but only a taste. I'm not going to be harvesting any honey until next year. We still have winter coming and although our winter isn't much to worry about, my only goal right now is keeping my colony healthy.

And for now, it looks like the girls and I are doing ok in that. For now, for today, We Are The Champions. (Sorry not sorry.) 🎶 🐝

A beautiful healthy worker bee and the all important eggs in the cells behind her. Perfection.