Jul
15

Weekly Inspection July 15th

Observations:

Weather: Temperatures have dropped- 18°C – 22°C, some quite prolonged showers; foraging activity noticeably quieter.

Forage: Rosebay Willowherb, Veronica, Ragwort, Buddleia and Golden Rod starting to show.

  • Wanted to check on Emerald as they had been very active & clustering on front of the hive earlier in the week and hadn’t inspected them the previous week

Managed to paint some of the brood boxes as well as repair and paint one of the gabled roofs – given they are 20 years old they are in good condition but the plywood roof liners were rotten and were the only parts that needed replacing.

Apidea – queen has hatched out and nice size. No eggs yet – after inspecting looks like I may need a queen for Honeydew as it looks to be queenless.

Hive Record
Colony
Q
BIAS
Brood
Stores
CommentNext Inspection
EmeraldNY11 + 6 BIAS - have carried on expanding.4th super about 1/2 fullSwapped some of the brood frames with 4th super drawn comb.Check on space - split?
IndigoNY7 1/2 BIAS -same as previous week1/2 full superLooking OKStart assessing for stores in anticipation of Winter
AquaYY4 1/2 frames of BIAS - eggs, so not queenless.Plenty in the brood boxMarked and clipped the queenAdd 2 frames, ideally drawn comb, to make up to 11
BlueYY4 plus a bit of BIASAbout 1 kg in 2nd superDoing wellCheck on super activity
CyanYY7 frames of BIAS, expanded well after splitPlenty in brood box Donated 1 frame to GreenAdd 1 frame to get 11, plus add dummy board
DenimYY6 frames of BIAS - lot of eggs2nd super 1/3 fullnot added any more since last inspection Check on expansion
FlaxNY3 frames of BIAS- so queen 👍2nd super 1/2 full Relieved to see eggsCheck for queen
GreenNY4 frames of BIAS Plenty in brood box Transferred to full size box, added 2 frames incl. 1 capped from CyanAdd 3 more frames plus dummy board
HoneydewNNJust 2 small patches capped brood Plenty in brood box Looks to be queenlessIf no eggs, add queen from Apidea