A bit of an update on my colony. They did well late last summer and into autumn after i'd moved them to my garden. I didn't get any honey from them but wasn't expecting to anyway.
They went into winter with plenty of stores (I did feed them a couple of litres of Invertbee, which they took down over a couple of weeks)
I've been keeping an eye on them periodically by having a listen at the back of the hive and did my OA trickle just before Christmas. They looked very happy and calm when I did the trickle treatment and still seemed to have a decent bit of weight, but I added some fondant above the crown board as a precautionary measure.
I've been out today doing some bits in the garden and noticed a fair bit of activity and, despite the temps being around 11 degrees today, they have been really busy all day and there is plenty of creamy yellow pollen coming into the hive, so they've obviously found something to forage on and are happy to be flying.
In the meantime i've been sorting out some 2nd hand Poly Nucs that I got hold of so that when the time comes to split next season i'll have the kit to do it (I do also have a spare full sized hive with supers). I've also been making some supers from timber I had in my workshop so i'm feeling fairly well prepared for the coming season.
I'm booked on an Improvers Course starting in a few weeks too so that should also help me through my first full season, hopefully