What’s happening with our bees?

Sadly, our three bee colonies did not survive the winter. It is likely they fell victim to varroa mites or varroosis, the “bee illness” they cause. Something that looks so harmless can greatly weaken a bee colony that becomes heavily infested, so the insects can no longer withstand other diseases, dampness and cold and die off – last of all the queen, who is no longer being fed.

However, our beekeeper has already created a new “branch”. This involves taking a piece of honeycomb from an existing colony with the youngest brood (eggs laid) and nurse bees (young worker bees) – but without a queen – and placing them in a new crate. The workers in this new hive can scent that queen pheromones are no longer being produced in their environment, and feed individual larvae exclusively with royal jelly. After 16 days, the first young queen hatches, kills her rivals and embarks on her mating flight, after which she goes to her new hive to start laying eggs and establish a new colony.

Lots of luck to the new colony, and we hope it always has plenty of honey in the comb!