Finding Bee Eggs
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A small pen light helps to locate bee eggs on a frame of drawn comb. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Finding Bee Eggs
There is beekeeping equipment and then there is beekeeping equipment. Some of it is offered through beekeeping supply companies. The rest are either homemade or cobbled from other uses like this small portable flashlight.
When I hear from beekeepers, one of the most frustrating aspects of beekeeping is trying to literally see very young eggs. There are several reasons to be able to do so:
It’s confirmation the queen is laying.
It’s the right size for notching to encourage worker bees to raise bees.
It’s fun to look for them.
Young eyes have better luck seeing the eggs than older ones.
Short of eye surgery, one option is to use a small penlight flashlight. The focused beam of light helps to reflect the white milky royal jelly found in the bottom of drawn wax frames where a queen lays eggs. Especially when starting a new colony, seeing evidence of egg-laying is confirmation that the colony is up and running.
The flashlight is also helpful to check bottom board corners for small hive beetle larvae.
I now have two flashlights, one for my beekeeping basket and the other for my short trips outside at night.
