Out of the three hives at Thorpe the end hive under the hazel has done the best at making honey. I took practically a full super off that hive today. For swarm that had already had half the bees stolen from it before being moved to Thorpe that is not at all bad. One to watch. All three hives there have a bucket of feed on.
GW is doing fine in Postwick with half her bees and a chunk of fondant above the hole on the crown board. Back on the allotment the other half of her bees have accepted a new queen. I moved her to the bottom brood box and took the top brood box off leaving that for the bees to clean out. I will feed these bees now and hopefully build up their numbers.
I spent the afternoon in postwick giving the smaller hives fondant and taking supers off the bigger hives. I have lost one hive since my last visit. The bees had been killed inside the hive even though the entrance was closed right down the half an inch. It was a gruesome sight inside the hive as the bees all had their heads missing.
The skinny queen and the Bowthorpe swarm queen have decided that is time to lay eggs. A bit late in the day. The bees were taking in pollen of several different colours and must be making honey from more than just ivy. It was a hot day with a warm sutherly breeze and there was definitlely a 'flow' on.
It was shame really to have been taking the honey off as there would be more to take in a few days time if this weather continues. Still the bees can have any more honey they make now. Most of the hives have empty brood frames that need filling with stores for the winter.
I gave the largest hive (last year's swarm) another brood box of un-drawn foundation that I put on top of the two brood boxes there. I haven't started feeding that hive yet.
In the allotment the German queen has just about filled the top brood box with stores and has only a couple of empty frames left. I put another bucket of feed on. I will start taking full frames out soon and either put them in store or give them to some of the smaller colonies. The German bees can then fill yet more empty frames.
I moved one of Tina's daughters from Thorpe to the allotment.
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