Hey guys , a quick update , will upload a few pics again soon.
The colonys future now balances on the edge of a very sharp sword. The queen is healthy , she has laid masses of eggs every day , there is at least several thousand and amongst them hundreds of newly hatched larva now can be seen. A few hundred larva are now almost the size of the workers so i am hoping they will pupate soon , but here comes the delicate balance, from the 150-200 workers so far i have counted just over a hundred. The past two weeks the colony has been with me some of the workers have reached the end of there life
But it hasnt been a constant death of workers, some days none die so i know conditions are correct.
I have to hope the last remaining 100ish workers will hold on untill reinforcments arrive but i do hope these few hundred larva pupate soon then i can look forward to the population explosion. If these few hundred larvae pupate and eclose in time before the last workers die off then before they themsleves reach the end of there life the few thousand eggs and larvae that are newly hatched will be pupated and eclosing , the colony will go from a few hundred workers to well over several thousand in little over a month
, I hope this happens.
The colony are still taking food and last night took 9 fruit flys , most workers gasters are now extended and a few of the minor soldiers gasters are too. The Major soldier that was there from the beginning is still ok and her gastor is greatly extended too.
Also one thing i have noticed. The queen lays alot of eggs , i have watched her on several accasions and its amazing to see that when doing so she does not lay one egg but a small mass of them at once come out before the workers quickly find them and carry them off to the egg pile
Regards
Adam