I'm confused.
I made 6 splits on 4-19. Checked them today.
2 were beautifully Queenright with about 3 frames of capped brood.
4 had no queen, but one of these was quiet and had polished cells. The other 3 started "roaring" when I puffed smoke in.
I dumped out the queenless bees and took the stores to other hives for a boost. As I was cleaning up equipment, I spotted her ...
She looks just like her mother, except with a much smaller abdomen. She could fly. And - she had the arrogance/confidence of a queen.
Is it a Virgin? ... if so, How? ...
It's been exactly 33 days since I slipped the Cloake Board in place (4-19). 25 days since I moved a frame with capped QC's to each of the 6 splits (4-27). Her wings looked great!. .... so why would she not be mated?
We've had 80 deg average days, 55 nights, sunny with minimal breeze. ... she doesn't look like she's been bred.
The only thing I could think to do was put a box back together with stores ... she promptly marched right in ... and wait another 3 weeks ...
Any thoughts?
Sorry about the pic quality - they are individual frames out of a video I took.