Queen Cells In and Fritz Muller!!!

Friday morning. in between showers ... Gordon, Mike and I put in nine queen cells in our hives with the oldest queens.  When the queen cell (they are all Carniolan) hatches out, one of three things I hope will happen:

1. The new queen kills the old queen (she is running out of eggs) and the new queen will fly off to a local drone area where she will mate (hopefully with some of my Buckfast drones), return and be good to go for 2-3 years.

2. The old queen will kill the new queen and I will have to replace her when the hive shows signs of weakening.

3. The two queens will kill each other and the workers will recognize they need a queen ... make a queen cell and raise their own.

Worse case scenario, I lose the queens and they do now raise a new queen and the hive becomes queenless ... we will know in a few weeks!

I learn a lot each time I am around Gordon!

Also, I received a book from Dr. David A West (Virginia Tech), Fritz Muller: A Naturalist in Brazil.  During the rain we have had, I have been able to read about half the book.  It is a great book and even more interesting since Sue Neal and I have been to that part of Brazil.  I am so appreciative of Dr. West for sending me a copy!