I know its the 28th of May now and I have not put a single mention of a hive inspection or what is new or anything more about the bees.
well here it is:
Inspected hives again on the 12th of April, they were doing really well, filled some of the Foundationless frames ,F/L, that I added the time before, I had to take the ones out of the bottom super as nothing much was happening there and put them into the second one. Hive B and C had eggs in them. Hive A had cupped brood, maybe this is where the alarm bells should have been ringing in my head. Maybe they did and I just did not hear them. I also added one extra super to all hives.
Inspected hives on 19th of May, open cupped brood, no eggs, lots of drones, more than in Hive B and C, a slight sound of a bells ringing in a distance, I think I started to think maybe I don’t have a Queen in this hive, bees quiet angry, I opened up most of the hive to have a look, otherwise they are doing well with the Foundationless frames added 6 F/L all together plus another super. Found empty QC Queen Cell, in second and third super. Need to check hive again in 9 days time, so round about today 28th except the weather today or my free time did not coincide. Hive B,C Eggs in various stages but not lots of them, added 8 F/L in total to B, plus a super, lots of drones, Hive C – last years swarm hive, the best, no wonder they say the swarmed hive is mostly the best, eggs good pattern, added 8 F/L and a super.
And last but not least there had to be another change with the location of the beehives, as it became really inconvenient and painful to have them were they where, on a good day, no problem, on a bad day we really did not go anywhere near them and that proved difficult so they had to go, the day after the inspection we moved them again. Third time lucky, I say. We have talked about the location prior to moving them but that day just sealed it, they did not allow us to go anywhere near them and were on a defence even further afield and we both like our garden, more than we like the bees I have to say. That day we both got stung numerous times in various places, some of the bees were just there to kill and that was not pleasant at all. Now they are on the other side of the garden behind the raspberries. Looking out onto the world from all sides with nothing either side of them. That seemed like the best place at the time. Other than Northerly winds in winter they should not have a bad time over there and even with the winds, they are low to the ground so they will survive.
I really need to do another inspection and my plan is to check hive A if no changes with eggs, take a frame of eggs most likely from C and put it in A, that might have to be repeated again for 3 times and if there is no Queen they will raise one from the eggs, if there is a Queen and they have superseded here then they will just have more bees in there. Can’t lose.
will add a picture of the new location, they are happier there it took them good 3 days to settle, the majority was fine, came to the original location and they found it back to the new one but there was a certain bunch of them who just did not want to be told no matter how hard we tried and were quite angry when we told them more than twice so we just left them to figure it out. Its a week and a day since we have moved them and they are just about perfect and enjoying their new location.