I Have Eggs! I Have Eggs! Pop The Champagne!

Written by on in Crocus Hive, Honey bee Eggs, Honey bee Larvae, My First Year, New Queen

I’m so excited to be getting baby bees again, I feel like I won the lottery!

This is my swarm, which I captured and hived on June 11, 2011. After 15 days, the Queen is finally laying eggs. They look like little grains of rice against the black foundation, nestled firmly inside the center of the cells.
It has been way too long in my apiary since I have seen the smiling shape of pearly white baby bee larvae.  The past four weeks have been adventurous.  I watched my original queen get superseded by her daughter – out with the old and in with the new. I watched my bees fly away in a swirling mass of swarm and very luckily managed to capture that swarm, stumbling my way through the entire process.  I watched a new queen being raised, hatched and grow from a small virgin to a large plump mated queen – a seemingly unending progression for an impatient beekeeper.  It has all been an excellent learning experience.

Day in and day out, I have spent so much time thinking and worrying about my bees I feel like they are my own children.  A fellow beekeeper friend said it best “They may have a Queen, but I am their Mama!” (Hat Tip Colleen.)  I never expected to become this endeared with a tiny little insect, one that is so essential to the survival of the human species as a whole.  It has been too long since I have been without eggs and without the cute little faces and little eyes of brand new baby bees.  Today is a day for celebration, pop the champagne and pass out cigars, the babies are on their way!

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Anita Deeley
Anita Deeley is a biologist and former state bee inspector who maintains 100 honey bee hives. She is the beekeeper, writer, owner and creator of BeverlyBees.com. When she is not spending time with her girls (the bees), she enjoys being a wife to her beekeeping cohort, Brian and mother to 3 little boys (the beekeepers in training). Read more about Anita here >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Connect with Anita on Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ or Facebook here.
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Anita Deeley is a biologist and former state bee inspector who maintains 100 honey bee hives. She is the beekeeper, writer, owner and creator of BeverlyBees.com. When she is not spending time with her girls (the bees), she enjoys being a wife to her beekeeping cohort, Brian and mother to 3 little boys (the beekeepers in training). Read more about Anita here >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Connect with Anita on Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ or Facebook here.

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