We had a visit today by a couple of people from Godmanchester in Bloom. They are setting up an apiary in Godmanchester and came along to see what our apiary looked like. They donned veils and joined me in the apiary and we had a quick look in hive 5. After they left I did a full inspection of all the hives:
Hive 1 - Now has a new queen. She is laying well and already has 4 frames of brood. The colony has used some of the honey in the lower super so it is now about 1/2 full. They have not needed the extra super I gave then a few weeks ago.
Hive 2 - Saw the Blue marked Queen. 5 frames of brood, just a little room at the edge. If they fill that I may need to think about a super?
Hive 3 - Down to one frame with bees. I am moving hive 5 to take over this slot. Any bees form this hive will be merged with hive 5.
Hive 4 - Only 2 frames of brood. Still not very strong. They still have some room on a couple of frames of foundation that are not drawn.
Hive 5 - Moved a couple of feet closer to the hive stand and put on a pallet. When I opened the hive there was no capped brood or larvae, but there were eggs on two frames. It looks like this queen has been superceded. I am very glad I left a queen cell in the hive when I moved the others to hive 1! As a result we can expect this colony size to reduce over the next couple of weeks before picking up again. this will probably mean no honey this year from them.
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