18th of May, the weather has decided to get better at last, and I decided to check the hive. I had 3 brood boxes and a super. Number 2 brood box had lots of queen cells plus some cupped ones so I had decided there is no more time to be delayed over this, I have to do something. So up came the search for the Queen, well I spent an hour looking for her, had all the boxes in separate piles, and still could not find her, the wind started to get up and so did the bees temper. With the advice of my friend beekeeper we agreed the best thing to do would be to take the second brood box, move it to new location not even a metre away from the original hive, put a clean, new super on top and close it up.
The original hive , with or without Queen, had some queen cells, I did not hear them make a lot of noise so I am guessing she just did not want to be found. There were lots of bees on the frames, lots of drones. Also they have started to make honey stores. The frames with honey are just so lovely and white. Some of the frames have been built in quite a wild fashion and with me taking each frame out and checking them in made a bit of a mess with brood and stores but I could not help but take it out.
Day two, the bees look and sound pretty calm, all normal in the original hive, and the new one few bees flying in and out, noticed bees behaving very protective in and around any openings to the hive – I reduced the entrance plus blocked the top super entrance.
I will be checking it again in 7-8 days I will write a report then.
What I have learned – take my time, don’t get stressed if I don’t see her, stock up the smoker have more wood ready in case you run out, close your bee suit properly. Got stung at the back of my head due to not zipping my bee suit hat properly. Serve me right.