26th - 18°C

Adjacent fields of beans almost finished. Rosebay Willowherb and blackberry coming into flower.

Hive L: Brood chamber has about half a frame of eggs and young larvae. Queen found and marked yellow but not clipped. Super beginning to be filled.

Hive R: Half a super removed. Another half to be removed soon. Strong brood. Queen spotted. New queen cups removed. 21 lbs (9.5 kgs) of golden honey removed from hives R & W.

Hive W: Two-thirds of a super removed. Very strong brood. Queen spotted. New queen cups removed. Half drawn foundation moved to the centre. Three supers remain: top mostly filled, waiting to be capped; middle 'wet' frames having just been spun; bottom undrawn.

19th - 30°C

Hive L: Queen cell hatched and no new ones have been created. Colony quite calm but queen not spotted. No eggs yet. Super added.

Hive R: This colony will expand rapidly in the next few days as there are huge areas of capped brood. One super nearly completed so a second super was added.

Hive W: Two of the three supers almost filled. Still drawing frames in the brood chamber. Swarming urge has been stopped!

12th - 18°C

Hive L: Removed 3 more queen cells, 2 of which were new and 1 which must have been missed last week. The queen should hatch tomorrow and, as there are no other queen cells, she should not produce a cast swarm.

Hive R: Half a super was removed. Queen found, marked (yellow) and clipped. Not huge but beginning to lay well.

Hive W: Two and a half supers were removed (55 lbs (25 kgs) with hive R). Frames half capped but beginning to set. Queen spotted. At least four undrawn brood frames still and, guess what, a queen cup. It was duly removed.

5th - 20°C

Hive L: The empty feeder was removed and replaced with a frame of foundation. There were good reserves of nectar and pollen as there are now a number of flying bees. Removed ~10 queen cells from the sides of two frames. Two queen cells were located on the bottom of two frames and one was removed.

Hive R: Six capped frames were removed producing 18 lbs (8.2 kgs) of light straw honey. Queen found (not marked or clipped yet) and small numbers of eggs & larvae present.

Hive W: Four supers are largely full but none are capped so they are left on (despite the end of the oil seed rape in flower). Two / three of the new frames have been drawn and eggs and larvae present. Queen found.