A couple of weeks ago we pulled apart a hive that had a number of cells in it. One of the cells was cleverly built on an old plastic queen cup that was still embedded in the comb. Way to reuse your resources bees! The supply of royal jelly for the larva looked healthy, so we distributed it in a nuc in the outyard where we found it: On a less happy note, Alex sent me an image attesting to mite buildup in a Central Iowa hive. Mites love drones, so a quick observation/assessment is just to peek into any drone cells that are accidentally broken apart when the hive bodies are separated. This number of mites is pretty terrifying at this point in the year: The good news is that we've been able to get in a fair number of treatments, and the splitting process dilutes the mite concentration on a per hive basis. Obviously we'll have to be extra alert and punctual with mite management this year.