WildCA18A (left) colony opened. This is by far my best wild colony. Every queen graft and split made this year has been from this colony. The genetics are extremely calm, very hygienic and good producers. Today was no different. Four out of the five boxes were filled with bees and brood, nectar and pollen. Almost no honey stores yet. I did not find any established queen cells. However, I did find some false queen cups. I would say they are not likely to swarm. I swapped one frame of eggs and larva with a capped brood frame from the starter colony. I hope the starter colony begins making some more queens.
Wild17 (right) as true to all previous inspections for the last two years have shown is plain mean and should be re-queened. I have given this hive ample chances to just blame the behavior on a “bad day” or “no resources”. I did not open this hive. My hope is to either re-queen or force them to swarm. They down right suck. I would like to re-queen with genetics from WildCA18A.
