Weather – more of the same – wet and cold. Temperatures not getting above 14°C. Forecast to warm up next week.
Forage: hawthorn, OSR, Apple, Green alkanet and lilac just starting.
Colonies starting to expand- still very early in the season. Will need to decide on where to put the new colony being created by Blue using the modified Snelgrove method which seems to be progressing well.
| Colony | Q | BIAS | Brood | Stores | Comment | Next Inspection |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aqua | Y | Y | 10 frames of BIAS spread across 2 boxes | Plenty in the boxes | Unite gone well with plenty of brood | Add 4 frames if staying with double brood boxes |
| Blue | N | Y | 4 in queen right bottom box, 5 capped in top box with 12 QCs - took down to 1 | Plenty in the brood box | Didn’t see queen or eggs - need to check next week | Look for mated queen in 10 days |
| Cyan | N | Y | 5 BIAS - Not sure if they are expanding | Super being worked - nothing stored yet. | Not sure whether queen is present. Seem to be fewer bees | Check for queen |
| Denim | N | N | 4 frames capped brood, 4 capped QCs - took down to 1 | Plenty in the brood box | Looks to be OK with raising new queen | Check in 10 days for mated queen |
| Emerald | Y | Y | 3 frames of BIAS - was 2 frames before when Nuc created | Bringing in nectar | Not many bees | Check on expansion - strengthen if necessary |
| Flax | Y | Y | 4 frames of BIAS, continuing to expand | Plenty of stores | Settled into new site very well | Replace 3 old 14 x 12 frames |
| Honeydew | N | Y | 5 frames of BIAS, - plenty of eggs so expanded well in last 2 weeks | Not much in the brood box, but bringing in nectar | Added super as weather set to improve | Check on continued expansion and find queen |
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