Nursing the Queen

Remember that scene in Terms of Endearment when Shirley Maclaine wakes up her peacefully sleeping baby because she fears the baby is dead? Well, that's me.

My hive is the one with just the top cover removed.
The video is of that two-inch hole in the inner cover.

Meghan's hive really was on the verge of swarming (see my last post). That means the queen had started laying eggs in queen cups - baby queens in the making, ready to take over the hive. To prevent them from swarming, and to get me started on my nuc, Meghan cut out some of the queen cells and put them and some nurse bees in my empty hive box.

I am meant not to open the hive for a full week because opening the hive will disturb the nurse bees at work. When I went to look at the exterior of the hive today, however, I saw very little activity around the entrance. In fact, I saw no activity at all. All the other hives - including the small nuc boxes - were abuzz. 

What if my new nuc absconded? What if they returned to Meghan's hive, only a few doors down? What if they died? I had to open the hive just enough to make sure they were still in there.

Here's what I saw inside.

Yes, they are alive and kicking. If all goes well, in 4-5 days, the queen will hatch, and in a week, she'll take her nuptial flight. Stay tuned.