Hi Folks,
There is a hive in the apiary that I have a hate/ hate relationship with. They hate me and I hate them. They were caught as a swarm last season and have been as mean as an angry dog from the day they were placed in a hive. At the moment they are still in one brood box and I have decided to use them for a few tests and experiments as they won?t be allowed to develop into a productive unit with their current attitude. Nectar is scarce and they are only progressing slowly as a consequence. A couple of foundationless frames were added to the hive to see how they would construct the comb. They have taken to the frames quite well and have built about a third of the frames out with a combination of worker and drone brood. Three days ago when inspecting the hive, I saw the queen for the first time. I was using coffee grounds mixed with wood shavings in the smoker and wanted to see how the bees would react. After spotting the queen, I decided to conduct a bit of an experiment. My thinking was to put the queen in a push in cage for about 8 days, allow any eggs and larvae to develop to a point where a queen cell could not be formed and then dispatch the queen and add a frame of eggs and young larvae from a good hive. Today an inspection was made to see how the queen was going and check to see how the bees would react. Everything went pear shaped. What I saw surprised me. Now here is the question for you experts. What went wrong? The prize is 🏆🏆🏆 for the first correct answer.