Nuc with white dots: nice queen, one of the ones that Andrew grafted from George. Plenty of brood. I gave that hive a spare comb of honey from one of the deserted boxes.

Nuc with white square: nice orange queen, a Lisa. Lots of brood and bees. Some nectar.

Nuc with yellow triangle: big dark queen, George decendent. Lots of brood, bees, and nectar/pollen.

Amazingly, the nuc that started as the nurse hive and had most bees and brood when it received a queen, is now not the strongest hive. The most activity is at the Lisa hive.

About two days ago I started observing the hives more closely to see who was bringing in pollen. And that was these three. The nuc with the blue triangle was deserted long ago. The left compartment of the queen castle was also deserted early on. The other compartment still had a 100 bees, lots of honey but no brood or queen. And no pollen coming in. Quite telling thus.

I need some help catching and marking these queens if anyone has time. I am also in need of some deep boxes. Anyone has some that I can borrow?

Liz discovered a new woodenware supplier recently and made a trip up to Carlisle, PA to check him out and buy some stuff. Several people gave Liz a list and she came home with lots of goodies. My stuff was even delivered! Thank you, Liz!

I got a pair of nuc boxes that I intend to use for temporary housing of new queens. The wood looks very nice and the prices were great.