It’s been quite a while since I last posted. At that time it appeared that both queens had made it through the winter. Unfortunately the older queen wasn’t able to handle the drastic warm/cold swings of our spring weather here. I just added her bees to the remaining hive and hoped for the best. The queen in the surviving hive was one that the worker bees “created” last year. It’s called “re-queening” and you can learn more about that here. She is now half-New Mexican. I am trying to develop a number of truly local queens for my hives. Most beekeepers order their queens from California or Texas but I want bees that have local genetics and can handle the challenging conditions here in the high-desert lands. It’s been interesting following the progress of this colony. She is a large and strong queen but has not been a heavy egg producer. The hive is growing slowly but steadily. I have been checking in on their progress every week. They have filled up most of the combs with brood ( and some honey ) to the point where I decided to add another empty bar for them to expand in to.
Adding new bar
If they get too crowded, they will begin to create another queen and swarm. Notice too, I have a backer board at the end of the bars. This creates a confined space for the hive. As I add bars, I move the board back until they fill the entire box. This way the bees are able to control the temperature and humidity in the hive. It’s been very dry these past couple months and although there is still pollen out there, there will be a lot more food once the mid-summer rains begin. I’m beginning to think this queen is responding well to this condition…. not over-producing brood when food supplies are low. It will be interesting to see if she speeds up production once the rains come. In any case, all looks good for now!
( I just updated this post so that it would go out on FB )
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