The Bees

After checking the bees yesterday, I came away very pleased!

During my inspection eight days ago, I realised that only two out of five were queen right and doing well.

I merged two hives together with newspaper. One that had a good queen and one that did not. That has been a success. I will have four hives going into winter.

Another hive that had no brood last week, had a full frame of eggs and larvae when I checked it again. The new queen mated successfully and begin to lay just in time. She will lay up to October or November depending on the weather. The workers bees that she produces now will be her winter bees to see her through till spring. I was delighted!

The other nuc that I had moved into a full hive body was less promising. The frames were full of eggs in a random pattern. A laying worker or a new queen settling in? I give this hive a full frame of capped brood. I will inspect it again next week.