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David Mingay | all galleries >> Mynd Dagsins '15 >> Photo of the Day 2009 > Sep 6: Abandoned
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06-SEP-2009 David Mingay

Sep 6: Abandoned

Bee inspection day. I've been worried about White City as they had a bit of a 'starvation incident' a couple of weeks ago, and the feeder I've put in the hive is full of dead wasps, drowned in sugar syrup. For a wasp, it's probably not a bad end. So I had to get in there and find out what's going on. Inside I found that the colony had reduced inside, abandoning the four outermost frames. Here's the comb on one of them. The sealed cells contain dead larvae. Some had been eaten by creatures unknown. So I reduced the size of the hive by removing the super from above the brood box, and placing some of the frames of empty honeycomb where the abandoned brood had been. With a bit of luck they'll be able to manage the smaller space. Dorisville was in much better shape and just needed a bit of long overdue tidying. With both hives closed up I was clearing up some brace comb that came form Dorisville when Owwww! (insert swearword of choice) I got bipped on the hand by Doris that had been hiding in the comb. First sting I've had, and to be honest, I don't thnk I got the full payload of the sting through my glove.

Canon EOS 5D
1/125s f/8.0 at 100.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Michael Todd Thorpe07-Sep-2009 06:07
Sorry to hear of the problems and the sting...