Planning for next year

[SDM]

If that is aimed at me try this.... three seasons of trying to get Virgin Queens mated and back alive with around 50+ Swallows and more when the chicks arrive flying over and around the hives all day give me 100% failure... this year the Swallows never turned up and i had 80% success with the same hives and no fancy colours.

Same here, i watch them every year. Early morning taking dragonflies by the lake. Mid morning they hit the drones coming out of hives in the fields midday theyre flying lines up and down the mating nucs in the garden. This year they turned up a month late and only one pair nesting in the barn instead of the usual 6.
Same setup each year but this year they all find their way home for the first time. No doubt in my mind why.