I took two 2007 swarm colonies to Postwick in April after removing their queens. Both colonies re-queened in Postwick and have been pretty much left alone for the year apart from having some honey taken from them.

On inspection today neither had a queen to be seen (they are not marked) and both looked healthy with plenty of capped brood. I would have liked to seen the queens as I transferred the frames into a new brood box that is attached to a new floor.

One of the colonies is strong enough for me to take half their bees and give them a new queen. Unfortunately they were on a brood and a half. I have put the queen excluder between the brood box and super hoping that the queen is in the brood box. I should find out on my next visit which box the queen is laying in if I leave it for four more days.

Neither colony were bad to handle today.