Fusca boom

The Formica fusca, despite having only one queen (the other two queens having been killed by their bethren), are expanding very fast (faster than any other colony I have).

Formica Fight, Formica Funeral

Well, there is only one queen left as the other queen was killed by the workers. I was hoping this would not happen, but alas - it did. Oh well. At least the colony is going strong with almost 20 workers now, and a lot of brood. I won't add another tupperware pot yet, though, as the one they are in will still be confortable for another two or three months at least. Hopefully :)

Here's a video of them feeding on some cake:

Formica Fun

One of the Formica queens was attacked and killed by her sisters, unfortunately. The two which remain do not show any signs of aggression towards each other, though. I will keep them together.

The colony is flourishing. There are 15 workers now, and lots of larvae. Here you can see them having fun with a  fly I found on my living room.

Firstborn

The Formica fusca have had their firstborn, finally. Very nice.

Over the course of three days, there are now 11 workers with the 3 queens. None have ventured outside the nest yet, though, but I'm sure it won't take long. Once they start foraging, this colony will explode I'm sure.

Rapid growth

The Formica already have pupae. That is fast indeed.

Here's the link on youtube for the video: http://youtu.be/afgQIIcGy7I

Fertile Formica

The Formica fusca triad are doing fine. The queens constantly groom each other and have laid quite a big pile of eggs:

I hope their relationship is a lasting one :)

The Formica triad

I have decided to put three Formica queens together. They seem to be ok in their new home, although they are not really feeding - just drinking water from the plaster walls.

New home

This morning I put two of the four Formica fusca queens in their new home. I opened the hoses they were in on one end and left them. So far they have chosen not to come out yet, let's see if they will be out by the time I get back home. Here is their setup:

I hope they can become co-rulers and the colony will thrive.

The Formica are here

A friend from Germany sent me 4 Formica fusca queens. They arrived yesterday, and are alive and well.

They are lovely and are pretty fast moving. Yesterday I fed them some honey water. As soon as I put the honey in, they "honed in". :)