04/04/04

Spent the weekend cleaning frames, supers and queen excluders. The weather was cool, windy and mainly overcast therefore not appropriate to do the first full inspection of the year. Managed to clean the inside of the lifts and widen the entrances to about 10cm. Removing the lids showed that both hives seemed to have good colonies although a more detailed inspection will have to wait for warmer weather. Each hive was cleared of excess wax/propolis from the top of the brood frames, had a wired queen excluder added and a super of eight frames with good cell build-up. The plan this year is to avoid overcrowding by providing plenty of space to try and control swarming. The plan is to replace 3 or 4 of the outer frames in each hive each year.

Hive L: The brood chamber has a dummy frame in one position.

Hive R: The brood chamber has a narrow spacer board.

Hive W: The newly acquired WBC to provide room for expansion.