I've been deliberately ignoring the queen ants I captured back on the 7th of July so that they can have some peach to do their own thing. Before work this morning, I decided it was probably time to check on progress to see if there was anything I needed to do.
All is looking good with all eleven of them having produced varying amounts of brood (the first stage of the egg development process). The quantity varies widely and it is noticeable that the lasius niger queens (pictured) have generally produced significantly more than the lasius flavus queens but all are looking good.
Assuming that the queens are fertile, I'm hoping for the first set of workers to emerge at some point between the middle of August and the middle of September (temperature is likely to have an effect on the actual time).
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