We started with Hive 2 which was good tempered and has replaced the queen. There were eggs, larvae and capped brood on 3 frames.
Hive 4 which is split into two colonies had one side with no queen, the other side has eggs so must have a laying queen. These two colonies will be merged, and after the class left, I opened the vents between them so they can get used to each others smell.
Hive 1 was a little anti social. If they are not careful they may get an ASBO! They managed to sting me through my suit and they followed me for some time after the inspection. I wonder if my suit still has pheromones from the check on the nasty colony at Stukeley. They did not go for any of the students so it is probably my fault. Let's face it, most problems with the bees are down to the bee keeper, not the bees. This colony is fine with 7 frames of brood and a nearly full honey super. They will need a new super by next week.
Final check was on Hive 3. This is the colony that appeared queenless last week. We added a frame of eggs so they could create a new queen. Looks like another bee keeper error. All the eggs and larvae have been capped. But on the next frame there are eggs and larvae. Looks like there was a queen in there after all, she just took a short wile to start laying.
The swarm that arrived 8 days ago was not examined. The queen in there was laying last Wednesday so can stay in peace for a little longer.
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