Friday (9/2) I was primed and ready to pinch the queen in Alhambra, then bring it up to the house and do a newspaper combine with Warwick.  I looked and looked and looked and couldn’t find the queen.  It’s only five medium frames for Pete’s sake.  I got to thinking that maybe she wasn’t there.  But I saw eggs and young larva, albeit very small patches of each.  I will say that many bees  of the few there) had bright shiny thoraces, a sure sign they had been fighting robbers.

So late in the aftenroon I went back to try again.  I still couldn’t find her.  Looked hard but not quite as long.  I also went a little more prepared this time.  I had my nuc divider and two half-lids.  After failing to find her a second time that day, I removed three of the frames, none of which had any brood or stores (that nuc was weak) and put in my divider, confining the whole colony to two frames.  I was then able to bring the three frames back to the house, give two to Warwick and one to Belmonte.

I guess not being able to find her saved me the trauma of having to pinch her, but the fact that I found eggs and a little young brood with no queen cells leads me to believe she still is really there.  I’m also hoping that confining her will allow her to lay both those frames basically solid, giving me more evidence that she’s there or completely missing.  In any case, I need those frames, so that nuc will be dismantled one way or the other.

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