Queen Jane
Queen Jane is the eldest daughter of Queen Elizabeth, raised from one of the queen cells left in the colony that I split into three after they swarmed.
She is amber with dark stripes. This is the best photograph I could get, as she kept dodging round to the far side of the comb, whichever side I tried to photograph her from. You can just see her about to exit stage right…
Queen Jane at the comb edge
I recently moved them from the upstairs of the next door hive, into a new position with their own floor and roof and a new front door. In the move, they lost many of their workers to the next door colony, as the flying bees were oriented to the previous location. They are a small colony and need to build new comb in empty frames, as well as feed their growing population of young brood, so I have put a feeder of syrup under their roof to provide a ready supply of energy for the remaining workers.
Queen Jane’s hive