Weather sunny and warm 24 degrees. Inspections (except #7) not undertaken last week due to poor weather.
Hive #1 – inspected by Rowan. 14×12. Queen seen Brood on 6 frames and plenty of stores. Moved empty frame inside pollen barrier.
Hive #2 – inspected by Anne. Double brood. Queen seen. Brood on 7 frames. Frame of eggs and brood moved to #5.
Hive #3 – inspected by Peter R. Single Deep. Queen seen. Brood on 6 frames. Brought super below crown board.
Hive #4 – inspected by Hilary. Double brood. Queen seen. Brood on 5 frames in Deep 1 and 6 frames in Deep 2. Plenty of stores and room. Chalk brood and sac brood seen – marked affected frame with ‘?’. Frame 5 in Deep 2 set aside as drone trap.
Hive #5 – inspected by Hilary. Brood + half. Queen not seen. 2 charged queen cells (frame marked X) but no brood. Removed the two queen cells. Although two frames had been added from #7 two weeks ago, the cells are likely to be from the failed queen rather than the new frames. Further frame added this week from #2. If this fails then consider combining the colony.
Hive #6 – inspected by ? Double brood. Queen not seen. 9 frames of brood in top Deep, 7 in bottom Deep. Plenty of stores and room. High proportion of drone brood in bottom Deep. Consider removing next week.
Hive #7 – inspected by Brian. Double brood. Queen seen. 14 frames of brood – 10 in bottom Deep and 4 in top Deep. Plenty of room and stores. Foundation added last week had been drawn on 4 frames. 1:1 syrup added.
Hive #8 – inspected by Liz. Double brood. Queen not seen. 5 frames of brood on Deep 2, 2 frames on Deep 1. Drone brood on Deep 2 removed. Consider splitting next week.
