Beautiful weather again this morning and with heavy rain forecast for the afternoon we were keen to get out to the bees as soon as possible today. It was rather cloudy so these photos aren't as clear as I'd like but the queen is there on this next picture - I was taking a photo, just of the frame, and then spotted her immediately afterwards!
Once I'd pushed all the other bees out of the way I put a queen cage over her to stop her from scooting off. I didn't even consider picking her up with my fingers - apparently it isn't hard but I'd rather practise on less important bees first!
Once she was pinned in place it was easy to dab a blob of bee-paint on her back and officially christen her - Queen Amidala, long may she reign in peace and prosperity! We waited about a minute for the paint to dry then let her toddle off again. If you look closely at this photo you can see some 'baby' bees just hatching out. Above the queen there are a few cells with the wax covering slightly broken and there are little bee noses poking out! The queen was busy laying eggs in some of these recently-vacated cells when we spotted her so they can only have been empty for a couple of hours at most.
An interesting thing we noticed during this inspection was this fabulous comb sculpture attached to the bottom of a frame. This clearly shows why it is necessary to give the bees that thin layer of beeswax sheet in the 'empty' frames: Natural comb (also known as 'brace comb') may look beautiful but it is very hard to lift out without damaging it. I had to slice it off before I put the frame back in.
