One queen to rule them all.

I have to admit, I've been a little hesitant to check the bugs. It's been 6 weeks since my newest queen Charmaine was introduced to the hive. My previous two queens only lasted about 3-4 weeks before the colony assassinated her, and threw me into a panic trying to save this hive. And now it's a bad time of year to find yet another queen. Charmaine was one of only 2 queens left at my local source. I have been worried about her as the 4 week mark passed, then 5 weeks. I've had a sick feeling that if they didn't accept her, that that would be it. No more queens until Spring.

But I put on my big beekeeper panties and got out there today. It's lovely bee friendly weather and they were flying. Let's do this.

Hello my lovelies!

It took all of 30 seconds for my fears to disappear. I found all kinds of brood in various stages. Charmaine is still going strong making many many baby bees. Hooray! She's made it 6 weeks!

I also actually found HER again, not just her evidence. I'm getting kinda good at this!

The girls were calm and happy, no stings, no drama, everything in the hive looks good. Lots of brood, lots of honey, and nothing weird looking. I think they might be getting a little light on pollen so I'll make some pollen patties to supplement. I removed the mite treatment strips as it's been 6 weeks since I started that, and checked the small hive beetle traps. There was only one beetle in there, good good. I refilled their sugar syrup, rearranged a few of the frames to keep the brood nest in the center, and closed 'er up. Things are good.

And I'm getting cautiously optimistic that Charmaine might just be the one that they decide keep around for a while. Who woulda thought that little runt of a queen would be the one? 🐝