A picture would be helping a bit...outer capped cell is usually honey, they leave the center open for queen to lay in. Pollen is usually a sign that a queen is around. Too bad you only have one hive... If you had two packages installed you could compare. Center queen cells are usually supercedure cells, it seems the queen might still be around. I would check again and if absolutely no queen is around and eggs then a a new queen would be in order, bees make queen cells allot,.. emergency cells encase they need it. Here is a link that might be useful: Are They Supersedure or Swarm Cells?

As for the project, I sit and watch, and watch some more, then mess with it a bit and watch even more. Still simple. I've moved to a two flow through system for larger and then smaller particulates since I do not pre chop food nor bedding of papergoods. I'll have to check in at pjames. If a process is familiar that is comforting because maybe I'm not on a useless track. I'm leaning towards not even sides. Or what many would consider sides. Like why do we need sides to bar air? Something like the orange snow fence would be good but not strong enough, plus the dealing with a tiny bit of fall out. But worms need air. And only on top is not enough. More air = more womrs. Maybe just adding air at the bottom is not enough. Why not 360 degrees? Some systems add air with tubes through the vermicompost. I'm not into tubes. Structual strength is again the issue with sides less than 100%. Some systems pump air into the vermicompost. I prefer less work. I have not yet been super sucessfull at convincing my vermicompost to fall out of the open bottom of the bin. I spend a lot of time poking at it and then putting it back on top of the same bin. Nor are my worms "friendly" with each other. No eggs or small worms since spring. Hard to be fruitful and multiply that way. I have a very small system. Are we bad for hijacking the thread? Some vermicomposters bury food in a circle and the worms travel around are capitalizing on the hurd thing? This would mean they are right. I am still surprised. I do know that when worms want to crawl out of the bottom of a flow through they seem to all want to do it like it is a thing to do. Jump into the abysis. They freely drop into nothingness. I'm pretty much a systems guy, with vermicomposting as part of the system of future rabbits, chickens... Aquaponics too. I walked into a pet store, have not been in one of them in 15 years due to raising human youngens, and get offered a free crayfish so it would not die in the feeder tank it came in with. Crayfish are possibly part of an aquaponics system that is not warm. Maybe they eat worms. It may be better accepted into my family than BSFL. I am working on the foundation of a system.

She is starting to wean them. We had a Mom who had a litter (many decades ago) and she started weaning them for about three weeks before they were finally finished. We learned that if we took her collar with the tags off, they wouldn't hear her and couldn't all attack at once! It is best if they stay with Mom for a full 8 weeks because it is amazing what she will teach them (not to mention the need to socialize with each other). Ours completely house trained all 6 of the pups and would bat them on their heads when they started digging holes in the yard. Mommy knows best!

Hi just watched a video w/ removing fake flowers. Can not remember the name of the site. But I watched & he used scissors to cut the flower off. Then needle nose pliers to try & remove the glue very carefully & slowly prying it off, working by lifting up the glue a little at a time, slowly. The 1st. 1 came off w/ a small amount of work, the 2nd 1 had such a large glob of glue he used a heat gun, (you can also use a hair blow dryer) heating only a little at a time to soften the glue, he did not say how hot but I think I would try lowest setting first, it softened the glue, then used the pliers & kept working on it till he removed the glue. He only lost a very small piece of cactus flesh the size of a be-be (gun). It worked, might want to try something like this. Both cactus's looked great!! Just work & maybe a 2 person job, 1 for the heat gun which was not on the whole time, just long enough to soften the glue, then pliers. Keep doing till glue can be removed.