The Queen Bee still reigns... jubilee!

Jacob and I spent some time in the bee yard this past weekend.  I've seen hundreds of bees clustered on the outside the hive and have wondered if it's too hot in there for them.  We staggered the boxes a bit to help facilitate air flow and added a nearby water source.
This time last year, we noticed that the cells had two or more eggs in them, which indicated that worker bees were laying their own eggs because the queen was either sick, or dead.  The worker bees only produce drones, which are the male bees.  The sole purpose of the drones is to mate with the queen in the springtime.  In the fall, they're kicked out of the hive by the worker bees.  The worker bee population dwindles as it gets cooler, and since the hive isn't packed with bees to keep the temperature above freezing, they are unable to survive through winter.  We discovered this problem just before we left for vacation, so we weren't able to reintroduce a new queen in time.  This was a disappointing setback.  When something goes wrong with one hive, you have to wait almost a whole year to start over again. 
But it's a new year, and our skills are better than they've ever been.  This weekend we saw many of the queen's eggs and larvae.  We hope to add a super (to collect honey for us!) in the next few weeks.