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This small swarm showed up around 5:00 p.m. I hived it. Then it appeared to be leaving but the bees came back, fanned, and appeared to bring more bees back to the nuc.

I boosted this hive with a frame of nurse bees and brood once I saw that the queen was laying. I marked the queen and have been using this swarm for my recent bee presentations. I don't know if the bees sense something wrong with the queen or the constant interruptions have influenced them, but there is now a capped queen cell in the nuc along with the queen, capped brood, some eggs and larvae.

Queen cells are gone and the marked queen remains in charge. The show bee's last trip was a week ago Friday night to the Greensboro Science Center for a presentation to a group of young folks having a sleep over event there. Weather will determine future appearances this presentation season, but these bees have earned their keep.

At my last check, this swarm had far less than a frame of bees. It looked like the nuc was being robbed yesterday, so I reduced the opening to allow 1 bee at a time in and out. I don't have a serious hope that these bees will make it through winter, but I will be curious to see how long it survives.

It was no surprise to find the 100+ bees in this nuc had starved after being robbed of stores. I have the frames of drawn comb in the freezer to protect them for use this spring.