Took a peek in the hive today and we located the queen doing her thing. Big treat for us because this queen is unmarked -- no colored dot on her back like the queen from last year, so spotting her among the thousands of other bees gave us a thrill as well as a confidence boost that we're progressing as beekeepers.
On the downside, we were a little too slow with the camera and didn't get a clear pic of her. Hopefully next time!
However, we do know she's doing her thing because we were able to see freshly laid eggs and larva that are only a few days old.
The egg is the little grain of rice looking thing sticking up in the lower left corner of the honeycomb.
Here's a shot of larva that's more fully developed. Based on its size, I'm guessing the bees will be capping these soon.
This is the same frame, but further away. The honey comb that contains the larva had baby bees emerge from them just a few days ago. Once the new bee eats through the wax cap and pops out of the comb, she immediately gets to work cleaning and polishing it so the queen can deposit a new egg in it to start the process all over again. Initially the honeycomb produced by bees is a translucent white, but it darkens as it's used again and again. The darker the comb, the more times it's been used to produce a bee.
