After a cold early morning it had warmed up sufficiently by 11.00am to take a look inside the hives.
When I arrived at the apiary it was cold and there was little activity. I procrastinated but decided not to open them. Instead, I sat in the car for an hour listening to the Archers, but that's another story altogether...
By the time that had finished there was a lot of flying activity outside; it had warmed up and the cold wind had abated, bees were bringing in pollen. So I suited up for a look.
The "United" hive was in great shape. Lots of brood, eggs and larvae in both deeps. So I think Spring has finally arrived! I kept the super in place as this has some capped honey/sugar syrup in place.
The other older established hive was still only in one deep but there was nevertheless significant brood in it. This hive is in old equipment and was "listing" badly. I moved it onto a new stand and baseboard, swapped the old second deep (that contained old drawn comb) with a new deep of undrawn foundation and swapped the old cover for a new one. The bees seemed pleased!!
Now I need to think about splitting both hives, at least in a month or so; in the meantime I'll need to locate a couple of queens!
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