A Portrait of Her Majesty

I am happy to report that thanks to the very kind Beekeeper Jim, my apiary is back up and running at full capacity.  My hives are strong, healthy and queen-right.

There are a few ways to know if your hive has a queen.  The most obvious is to spot her during a hive inspection.  Though admittedly, this can be easier said than done.   In a strong hive there are thousands of bees milling around.  Locating one bee on a frame containing hundreds can be tough.  Furthermore, queens often have a preference to remain hidden and so tend to make a run for it when you pull out a frame for inspection.  This can make it very hard to spot her royal highness.

However, I have one hive with a particularly cordial queen bee.  She is especially friendly and comes out to say "Hello" each time I go into the hive.  Today she was even so kind as to pose for a photo.

Can you spot her?  Queen bees are larger and have a longer pointy body than regular honey bees.  Also, instead of yellow furry backs, they have a shiny back back - beekeepers sometimes refer to it as her black leather jacket.

It is very exciting to spot the queen in a hive but if you cannot see her, you can look for evidence of her presence.  The best indicator is to see the eggs that she had laid in the cells.  An egg looks like a tiny grain of rice standing upright in the middle bottom of a cell.  If you have eggs, you have a laying queen, so as long as you do not accidentally squish her majesty when you put the hive back together you are good to go until the next inspection.