A tough little tree grows along the Red Sea and arid regions of Northeast Africa, Libya and Iran. Surviving against the odds, the little tree weeps a bitter red-brown resin with remarkable healing properties. Its name is myrrh.
Like her namesake, Queen Myrrh emerged from her cell into adversity. She arrived as the rains came to the desert bringing plants, trees and flowers back to life, while she waited inside the hive. Myrrh, who inherited a dying colony from her drone-laying mother, Rosemary, was desperate to go out on her mating flight, but every beat of her wings would have been a race against the wind and rain.
In Guide to Bees and Honey, Ted Hooper says, ‘The queen mates on the wing during the first ten to twenty days of her life. Once she has emerged from her queen cell she becomes mature within a couple of days, but by the time she is three weeks to a month old she is no longer capable of mating properly. During her mature period the worker bees become more and more aggressive towards her up to the time she mates. This behaviour has a possible value in driving the queen out for her mating flight before she is too old to accomplish it efficiently.’
A mild spring of sunshine and showers is vital for bees to forage and build-up their stores after winter, and fine days are needed for the mating flights of virgin queens. However, the torrential rain over the past six weeks has trapped bees inside hives and left hungry mouths to feed.
Warm, sunny days are needed for drones to fly out to congregation areas where they swarm about thirty to ninety feet above the ground and wait for virgin queens to fly past. No one knows for certain how drone congregation areas are found by drones and queens, but each spring they make amazing spectacles of life and death.
If the weather had been fine, Myrrh would have flown through the air like a comet with drones forming a comet’s tail behind her. The best and fastest drones would catch the queen and die in the act of mating, falling to the ground below. ‘At the time of mating the drone genitalia enters the queen and literally explodes, separating from the drone, which dies.’ (Ted Hooper)
During the course of three mating flights, the queen would mate with up to 40 drones, filling her abdomen with sperm and allowing her, potentially, to lay fertile eggs for the colony for two to three years. ‘Mating having been accomplished, the queen starts egg-laying within a few days, and is from then on very carefully looked after by the worker bees… now she produces a scent which causes them to turn and face her if she is close, thus forming the ring of workers usually found around the queen, and called her “retinue”.’ (Ted Hooper)
Queen Lavender is surrounded by her retinue – a circle of worker bees – as she walks across the frame. (Sorry the queen’s a little blurry – it’s tricky to hold a frame of bees, spot the queen and take her photo!)
However, the weather was not kind and Myrrh never left the hive. Unable to mate with drones from her own colony because of the risks of inbreeding, she could not lay eggs to replace the workers reaching the end of their life cycle and the drone her mother had laid. The colony had become quite small by the time Emily and me were able to open the hive for an inspection.
We were sad to see Myrrh walking across the frame without her retinue of workers and her small abdomen indicating that she had not mated. We continued to check through the hive to make sure that there were no eggs or larvae – the queen can also look small and slim before swarming when she is starved by the workers to make her fly, but this was unlikely to be the case with Myrrh. A few weeks ago we had put in a frame of larvae from Lavender’s hive, but this was uncapped probably because there are not enough workers to raise brood. We didn’t find new brood.
Worker bees having a chat. Chilly temperatures this spring meant that opening the hives would do more harm than good, leaving nature to decide the fate of Myrrh. We could not introduce a newly mated queen while Myrrh was inside the hive, because the workers would see her as an intruder and kill her.
Emily and me talked over the options because, while there was nothing we could do for Myrrh, there were the surviving bees to consider. It was too late to give the colony another frame of larvae from Lavender’s hive, because there were not enough workers to rear a new queen and her bees. For the same reason, it was too late to introduce one of the mated New Zealand queens recently bought for the apiary.
The dying colony was mostly drone, but could be saved by combining with Lavender’s hive. It was a big decision to finally collapse this colony, so we decided to close the hive for a few days to consult wiser beekeepers than ourselves.
Drones carry the characteristics of their hives to other colonies through mating with the local queens. Emily and me have good-natured, hard-working bees, and we would want our drones to survive and mate with other queens in the area.
Queen Lavender’s hive was a happier picture full of bees, brood and stores. The bees had completed the Bailey comb change by themselves – clever bees! – and the brood in the bottom had hatched and moved up to join the queen. We took away the old brood box and placed the new brood box on the hive floor, removing the dummy board to give them space to expand. The old brood box, with straggler bees shaken out into the queen’s nest, was placed on top with an empty super in-between for the bees to rob the remaining stores.
We saw signs that Lavender’s bees are trying to make queen cells – it is the swarming season – but with more space in the brood box this instinct may be delayed. We will have to watch them carefully over the next few weeks.
I spied a worker waving her abdomen in the air, exposing her Nasonov gland and fanning her wings to spread the scent to guide foraging bees back to the colony. She may have been doing this because we kept Lavender’s hive open longer than usual to complete the Bailey comb change.
Emily and Drew had brought along their friend Owen, who was scouting out the situation about bees for his girlfriend, Fran. So we wandered round the apiary for a while and topped up the sugar syrup in the other hives and nucs. In May we wouldn’t normally feed bees because the supers would be on the hive, which we would like the bees to fill with nectar not sugar. However, the wettest April on record for the past 100 years in the UK has bought famine to many bee colonies and the National Bee Unit has issued a starvation warning to beekeepers to continue feeding their hives.
At the height of summer, a forager bee visits around 2,000 flowers a day to collect enough nectar and pollen to feed around 50,000 hungry bees inside the hive, and new bees are hatching all the time. So if bees can’t fly out and stores are low, they need a lot of sugar!
Drew kindly took some nice shots on my new camera…
Me pouring Ambrosia sugar syrup – food of the gods and of bees. I hope the bumbles and solitary bees found food, warmth and shelter during the rainy spring. © Drew Scott
Rain is needed to stimulate the nectar flow, but then sunshine is needed to evaporate the water from plants, flowers and trees so bees can forage. Too much rain dilutes nectar and washes away pollen leaving no food for bees. The honeybee relies on the delicate balance of nature for its survival or doom! © Drew Scott
Bees can be a bit forgetful so Emily and me use Pat’s sticky twig trick to remind them of ambrosia in the roof. A twig is soaked in sugar syrup and left inside the feeder hole leaving a trail of gooey sweetness for bees to follow. © Drew Scott
Beekeepers sharing a bee joke – hope the bees enjoyed it. © Drew Scott
Beekeeping done for another Saturday and the sun still shining, Emily, Drew, Owen and me ended the afternoon in the beer garden at The Fox Inn, in Hanwell.
The reign of Queen Myrrh has been painfully short and bitter, but she has inspired an aromatherapy blend.
Warming bath blend
- 4 drops myrrh
- 2 drops clove
- 2 drops ginger
- 4 teaspoons of olive oil
Run the bath and then sloosh round the blend to disperse the oil as much as possible (you can use full fat milk or cream or an unscented bath gel as a carrier agent, if preferred). Patch test the blend if you have sensitive skin. Do not use if you are pregnant.
This is a dark, smoky and reflective blend. In The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy, Salvatore Battaglia describes myrrh’s effect on the mind as ‘one of inner stillness and peace, of an awareness free from restlessness and the mundane’. Clove and ginger were added for depth and warmth.
Emily and me attended the London Beekeepers Association Bee Health Day on Sunday (we were really as busy as bees this weekend!) and listened to very useful talks from our local bee inspectors on how to manage bee diseases and keep happier, healthier bees, which will feature in future posts.
Mrs Apis Mellifera 
What a lovely way of describing your beekeeping ;o)
Thank you, Emily and me love our bees 🙂
Fascinating read; sad to hear about poor Myrrh of course. the tip about the twig from the feeding store is useful – I have found I needed to drip syrup so they get the hang of it but this must be much better.
The bees do get excited about sticky twigs. Poor Myrrh, our bees always make lovely queens but they have been unlucky this year. We might not get any honey as varroa treatments start in August and preparing the hives for over-wintering, but I’ll be happy to have healthy bees going into winter to last for next spring.
wow! beekeeping is interesting 🙂 and I LOVE your Myrrh blend!!! I love Myrrh with Rosewood & Frankincense for meditation, healing & a touch of magic!
Frankincense and rosewood are great to blend with myrrh to balance its musky smell – not to everyone’s taste, but I like myrrh. This is quite an interesting blend, very subtle in the bath, but really helps you to breathe and relax deeply. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Beautiful pictures and a very sad story….
I’m hoping to start a second colony for insurance/safety but with this weather, it’s enough to keep this one alive…
Nature can be uncompromising but this year has been particularly bad for bees. A second colony is always a good idea as the two colonies may also help to support each other throughout the year with frames of larvae or queen cells (providing there is no disease). At the LBKA Bee Health Day, the speakers said the honey flow in London can continue through August and into September, but that it was better for the colony to start varroa treatments and allow the hive to build-up its own honey stores for over-wintering from the end of July. After such a wet spring and start to summer, making sure Lavender’s hive is strong and healthy for winter will probably be the priority for the rest of the season.
You have described all the events so well! Loved the pic of all their heads peering up from the top of the frames.
Thanks, Emily! I’m looking forward to your posts about Myrrh and the LBKA Bee Health Day as you always give me new insights. Those pics were with the long Tamron lens, although only a handful were decent to use with clever zoom-ins and cropping… I need to practise! What a year it has been for our bees, can you believe the rain is back? I was thinking to pop to the apiary after work tomorrow or Thursday to check on Lavender’s hive for swarming. Still keeping fingers crossed for a sunny June and July, we might at least get a frame of honey to share 🙂
That would be great if you get a chance to go, no worries if not though. Even if we only get one frame of honey I’d be really happy with that at this point!
Mini jars again! 😉
Another riveting read, EST! Leaves the Archers Omnibus edition far far behind, and no freak quad bike accident or unconvincingly contrived domestic trauma in sight… Oh I see, you are actually writing about real life… Leaves me looking forward to the next instalment. ATB from RH
Thank you, RH 🙂 Emily and me have had so much drama from our bees that the Archers might be more than we can handle! And there are still swarms, honey and my first beekeeping assessment to come this year…
I’m so sorry about Queen Myrrh. Maybe our name for her was a little too grim… 😦
It is sad, I think she would have made a very good queen like her mother, Rosemary, and grandmother, Rose. Her aunt Lavender is quite feisty though, so we’re hoping she’ll pull her bees through this horrible weather 😦 The name Myrrh seems quite apt considering her fate!
I was going to suggest the name Rose for a new queen. I can’t believe it’s STILL so awful over there!!
The MET office forecast for the end of May and into June is ‘unsettled’ with heavy rain at the start of next week. Being just a little island our weather’s always a bit fickle, but this year has been grim. Please bring a pocketful of sunshine when you visit London 🙂
I’ll try!! It was sunny and warm the last time I visited…:-)
You have such a lovely gift for transporting me out of a terrible work week and back into the magic bee kingdom. Thank you for a beautiful post.
I am sorry to hear you had a terrible work week – everyone I know is so busy at work now, thank goodness it is the weekend! That’s a lovely way to put it, ‘magic bee kingdom’, I think Emily will like that! 🙂 Have a great Saturday 🙂
A very beautiful article!
Thanks, Andy! Welcome to the blogosphere 🙂
I am adoring your blog, and am so glad I found it! I’ve always been fascinated by bees and your articles are a treasure. I hope Queen Myrrh will be ok, and the drones. I’m hooked into their lives by your wonderful writing and photography. Two worker bees ‘having a chat’ is awesome. I am blown away. Am happy to follow and keep up on all your adventures. I’ll continue to help bees around here by only gardening organically and growing as many native wildflowers, flowering shrubs and trees as will fit in my yards! Hugs from a new fan, Gina
Thank you, Gina. It has been a strange year for bees over here, but I’m hopeful there will be some summer to come. They can be very funny. We caught our bees eating holes in their wax frames last year to peer at each other, little weirdos! I hope the bees enjoy hob nobbing on the tasty flowers in your garden. They like it when same flowers are planted together in drifts, because they have very small brains and can’t remember how to work more than one or two flowers per foraging flight 🙂
I agree completely about planting ‘in drifts’ ~ it looks lovely AND helps our beloved bees. Your reply here makes me laugh and continue to marvel at the wondrous world of bees. 😀
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I always learn so much reading your blog. 🙂 The way you described the mating of bees–whoa! Poor drones! I had no idea mating could be so violent.
Poor drones, those that don’t die mating with the queen get kicked out of the hive by their sisters at the end of the summer! But they do have a pretty good summer, flying from hive to hive during the day, guzzling as much honey as they want, not doing any work and staying overnight in other hives if they like… It’s a drone’s life! 🙂
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I am wondering how you make your hive stands? They look sturdy and simple. I have an ant problem and it seems like I could defend my hives more effectively with hives on stands like yours. Thank you for any direction!!
The hive stands were set up at the apiary on steel runners. You can help protect bees from ants by rubbing Vaseline on hive legs or if it becomes a real problem you may need to find the source of the path of the ants to block off or move the hive.
I am enjoying your amazing posts of the intricate lives of Bees.. I had no idea the mating slot was so short and when you think about it Bees are up against a lot..
Thank you Emma for sharing.. Loved reading x
Nature is a fine balance for the honeybee but they are clever and determined creatures, which is why they’ve been around for millions of years I guess! The biggest challenge, I personally think they face along with other pollinators, is habit loss. All those front gardens concreted and parks neatly landscaped are part of our unwillingness to share space with nature.
Yes I so agree with you… So many sterile environments for gardens.. Not Bee or insect friendly at all x