Notes and News about Cannibalism in the BeeHive

Note:
For the last five nights we have had record-breaking low temperatures in Atlanta. The bees have suffered. They can't forage as much - just a few hours in the day. Bees have died. I've seen dead bees outside of Proteus (60) and Mellona (40). They may be dead drones or worker bees who were too close to the edge of the cluster as the weather got colder. I have not seen dead larvae or chilled brood.

Note:
Tomorrow should be a pretty day so I will add a honey super to Mellona. The tulip poplar is in full bloom and should be for several weeks and I want the bees to make lots of honey.

News:
At least this was news to me. At the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers' Meeting tonight, the speaker was Curtis Gentry, who has a PhD in entomology from KU. Curtis is the beekeeper for the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

In his talk, Curtis commented that bees get food from three sources: the pollen or brood food, royal jelly, and if the queen is too prolific in her laying, the bees EAT the unhatched eggs and feed the protein back to the baby bees. Who knew???