Jul
9

Weekly Inspection 9th July

Observations:

Weather: slightly cooler than previous week – temperatures 20°C – 24°C. Some heavy rain showers.

Forage: Rosebay Willowherb, sweet Chesnut, St John’s Wort and golden rod just starting. Plenty of activity with the bees., bringing in lots of pollen.

Need to start to look at which colonies need strengthening for Winter and if I want to try and over-winter a couple of nucs as insurance.

Mixed results so far with queen rearing, Apidea has got one sealed QC rather than a queen.

Will also start to sort out equipment- painting some boxes, repairing the gabled roofs as well as making up dummy boards.

Managed to use the repaired boiling tank to clean up 60 frames and a few queen excluders. They really do come up well but does take a couple of days to clean and rinse them.

Hive Record
Colony
Q
BIAS
Brood
Stores
CommentNext Inspection
AquaYYFour and a bit of bias with plenty of eggsPlenty in brewed boxWas Headley Road swarm no significant expansion since last weekAdd to 14 x 12 frames, find Queen Mark and clip her chicken Royale, please
BlueYYSix frames of bias and with a expanding brood patternSecond, super being worked, and first now fullIn good conditionCheck for supering activity
CyanYYSeven frames of bias, and a few polished Queen cupsPlenty in brood boxLooks okay with plenty of spaceCheck for more queen caps
DenimYNSaw new Queen no eggs as yet Second, super one third fullNew queen, looks to be good size and honey colouredCheck for laying Queen
EmeraldNNNot inspected 4 supers Needs checkingNeeds looking at
FlaxNNNo brood apart from donated frame. No Queen cells raisedSecond, super harmful, half full of shit, Second super half full threeNot sure what to do about lack of Queen, was Headley farm swarmDecide on re-queening, possibly using the Apidea
GreenYYFour frames of bias, more eggs than previouslyPlenty in brood boxClipped Queen, need to decide whether to move to full boxPossibly move to new box and strengthen ahead of winter
HoneydewNNThree capped frames of brood , no eggs and not seen new Queen - possibly queenless.Plenty in brood boxNot seen where the Queen’s presentCheck for laying Queen
IndigoYY7 1/2 frames of bias, good brood patternSecond super half full, first now, PaulLooks to be in good shapeCheck if Super frames need rearranging