Mar
28

Weekly Inspection 28th March

Observations:

Weather: much improved and temperatures have risen to 14ºC – 17ºC. Chilly in the evenings but no frost so far.

Forage: Blackthorn, Cherry and Laurel now out.

With improved weather the colonies have started to expand and work the supers. Notably Cyan has doubled the amount of brood in just 1o days! Decided that I needed to perform a Demaree as it was running out of space and too early to split as there were no drones around.

Hive Record
Colony
Q
BIAS
Brood
Stores
CommentNext Inspection
BlueYY7 BIAS - has expanded well Started to work the super with about 2 Kg stored.Quite a lot of drone brood so need to check on swarm preparationExpansion and possible swarm prep.
CyanYY8 + 6 plus roof space filled with brood. Lots of eggs but brood has doubled in size.Plenty in both brood boxes and some in the super.Needed to perform Demaree as swarm prevention measure.Take down QCs in the top brood box after 1 week.
FlaxNY7 BIAS - large expanded brood pattern.Taken down all the fondant and starting to work the super.Have laid up the drone trap frameCheck for swarming and decide if the Drone trap stays or gets uncapped.
HoneydewYY3 frames if BIAS still but is a larger pattern so has expandedPlenty of capped stores remainingSlowly starting to expandCheck on expansion
IndigoNY2 frames of BIAS but covers most of the 14 x 12 frames.Lots of stores from WinterNow in a nuc and seem too be coping bettercheck on expansion and space