Progress update/hive Inspection

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FullerBee

New Bee
Joined
Jun 21, 2021
Messages
26
Reaction score
4
Location
Wiltshire near Trowbridge
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
1
So after the heatwave started to cool down a bit I took the opportunity to try out my new ventilated suit and I like it!! Still quite warm but it was cooler and felt safe!

The bees have been very busy over the last 8 days. Total brood up from 4 to 5 frames, but they’ve added 3 frames of stores, 2 of which needed drawn. In the super it’s gone from foundation only to 6 frames that are just about full and the other 5 are being drawn out.

I saw plenty capped brood and young larvae. Still haven’t spotted eggs or the Queen but she’s in there somewhere! I’m feeling a bit more confident that they’ll have decent stores for winter and hey summer isn’t done yet!
 
Sounds like your bees have been very busy!

Are they drawing and filling the super while they’ve still got empty frames in the brood box?
 
Sounds like your bees have been very busy!

Are they drawing and filling the super while they’ve still got empty frames in the brood box?
Ah brood box is pretty much done - 5-6 frames of larvae/brood and the outer most brood frames have nectar so all 10 frames are now in use with decent amount of stores for the expanding colony. I wasn’t very clear in my first post!
 
Last edited:
So after the heatwave started to cool down a bit I took the opportunity to try out my new ventilated suit and I like it!! Still quite warm but it was cooler and felt safe!

The bees have been very busy over the last 8 days. Total brood up from 4 to 5 frames, but they’ve added 3 frames of stores, 2 of which needed drawn. In the super it’s gone from foundation only to 6 frames that are just about full and the other 5 are being drawn out.

I saw plenty capped brood and young larvae. Still haven’t spotted eggs or the Queen but she’s in there somewhere! I’m feeling a bit more confident that they’ll have decent stores for winter and hey summer isn’t done yet!

Yes, it's my first year wearing a ventilated suit (Old Castle Farm) and I feel both safe and cool.
I can't see eggs without reading glasses. Some folk buy special bifocals.
Finding the queen: takes practice BUT I now find, 49years into beekeeping, that my two younger beek-neighbours spot the queen much faster than me......
 
Two questions on brood/super activity: 1. Brood has a lot of uncapped larvae relative to eggs /capped brood- any problem indicated?
2. All frames of a super drawn but not much nectar seen- time for another super or time to wait.
Appreciate the bees know best so not too worried but just lack the knowledge of whats happening.
 
The ratio should be roughly 4:2:1 capped :uncapped:eggs for worker brood. Her laying rate is affected by many factors. I would just keep an eye out.
Only add another super when they need it, when last super is virtually full of bees or when there is a good flow on and they are looking for nectar storage space. They have only just drawn your last super, I would wait
 

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