Still wondering....

After examining the hive yesterday, and making a possible connection to the Apiguard, I did a little googling and asked an expert for an opinion.  The answer from both seems to be uncertain.  There is certainly the possibility that the Apiguard is the cause - maybe it stopped the queen laying, and I suspect that in itself could have triggered supersedure  proceedings from the bees.

The positive thing is that the queen is still here, and the bees appear to be behaving as normal - brining in plenty of pollen and taking syrup etc so I'm increasingly sure they are not leaving.  Supersedure might not be the best thing to happen at this time when there are limited drones to mate with, but it could be that the current queen will 'recover' in time to prevent it, or there may even be some sort of co-existence with the new queen until she is mated etc.

So - I think the way forward at the moment is to carry on as before. - Complete the varroa treatment, and see what happens.  The reality is that there's not much I can do to modify what the bees think is best for them, and if they want to supersede the queen, they will. - So, I might as well just relax a bit, enjoy them and see what happens - whatever it is will be a learning experience.  Maybe what I've already learned is 'ask before you act!'

Another warm sunny day, and the sedum is just coming out in the garden.  For the first time we saw our bees on it - it's been worked by the bumble bees for a while, but is now interesting the honey bees.