Meet the Queens

Queen Clover, an Italian queen, reigns over an Apimaye insulated hive. The hive is made like an ice chest with insulation encased in plastic. Italian bees are known to be one the lesser defensive breeds of bees (vs extremely defensive "mean" Russian bees). The hive consists of 2 deep boxes and a medium honey super.

Notice the queen's white paint pen marking. The white dot indicates that she was born in 2021.

Queen Wildflower, also an Italian Queen, reigns over a long Langstroth hive. The frames are the same size as a regular frame, but instead of adding more frames on top, frames are added on the sides. We like them because the beekeeper doesn't have to lift a heavy box of bees and frames to inspect the hive.

This 2021 queen likes to hide. Once we get a good photo of her, we will add it. As long as we see signs of her (eggs and new larvae), we don't worry about spotting her.

A queen is significantly larger than a worker (female) or drone (male) bee, so the cell to grow a queen is significantly larger than a worker or drone cell. Another Apimaye hive and long Langstroth hive await new queens.