The Queen Lives!

[alexinmadison]

I was so freaked out last week when I couldn't find my queen - especially in light of the fact that my workers were building queen cups. But I found her this week. She looks okay - seemed spry and functional.

I'm am slightly concerned (what else is new??) about the fact that, this week, I found FIVE queen cups and I seem to have a lot of drone cells. Is this an indication of them thinking about swarming? Their work seems right. They're making honey, still making more babies, collecting tons of pollen...  However, they have STILL not moved up into the second brood box. After 8 weeks, they're all crammed into the bottom (original) box. They are exploring the top box but haven't started building any comb. Should I be worried? Is there anything I can do to encourage them to start working up top?

Below is my picture of the week - orange pollen! At least I THINK that's what it is. LOL Please let me know if I'm totally off base here.

Thanks, as always, for your help, feedback, support. I love being part of this community. :)

Alex

[Susan]

You could move a built-out frame from the bottom box to the top box to bait them and then go with nine evenly spaced frames in your bottom box.