Signs of life and death

[Robert_Brenchley]

This is what I like to see; bees coming out for what's euphemistically known as a c;eansing flight, otherwise a poo. You can see a couple of yellow splots of it. These were originally native black bees, but there are now quite a few with a yellow stripe owing to outcrossing with the hybrids which predominate locally.

I took a hive which had dies out to pieces; there were lots of dead bees on the bottom, a few clinging to the frames, lots of food, and no sign of brood or disease. That's down to queen failure, which is distressingly common these days.

[Jesse]

That's so lovely to see :)