...well, sort of. They're actually full-grown when they hatch, but they're darn cute anyway!
These are drone (male) bees — you can tell by the domed covers on the unopened cells. Above, two bees are chewing their way through the wax covers on the cells.
This guy's almost out! If you look closely, you can see a varroa mite on his back — the little orange-brown dot. There are also a few mites visible on the surface of the honeycomb. Not good. The female mites lay their eggs in the cells along with the bee larvae; when the bees hatch out, so do the mites. Beekeeping would be a whole lot easier without those nasty little guys... but we're hoping that our colonies are strong enough to withstand the attacks. Wish them luck!
These are drone (male) bees — you can tell by the domed covers on the unopened cells. Above, two bees are chewing their way through the wax covers on the cells.
This guy's almost out! If you look closely, you can see a varroa mite on his back — the little orange-brown dot. There are also a few mites visible on the surface of the honeycomb. Not good. The female mites lay their eggs in the cells along with the bee larvae; when the bees hatch out, so do the mites. Beekeeping would be a whole lot easier without those nasty little guys... but we're hoping that our colonies are strong enough to withstand the attacks. Wish them luck!
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