I had a big set back and disappointment today. I went to the woods to inspect our 2 hives and found that the new Russian colony absconded. That was a major disappointment to say the least. I basically threw away $100.00! I guess on the bright side, perhaps we just helped to establish a nice feral bee population in this part of Emanuel County.

I think I probably should’ve waited longer to check and see if the queen was released. Either the disturbance sparked their absconding or maybe somehow the queen got out and was trapped outside of the hive when I put the lid back on it. Either way, they are gone and I’m going to cut my loses and move on.

Hopefully I’ll have some better news to report next time.