Them bees

Weather: Almost cloudless, hot
Temperature: 23C
Stings: None
Wildlife: Three squirrels.

A quick visit this weekend to soothe my fears. I was worried that my bees had swarmed because a friend who lives close to my bees had a cluster of bees on a tree in their garden. Were they my bees, I wondered? I didn't think they were because my queen is in her first year, they had lots of space and there was relatively little competition around for the pollen and nectar. But at the back of my mind is the nagging thought that bees like to confound their human helpers and I wasn't sure if they really did have enough space.

So I went down to check on them and they are fine. If they were my bees that swarmed they are doing a very good job of hiding it. The hive was thick with them and loads were flying in and out, too. I took the chance to put on the porter bee escape to clear them out of the super full of honey.

I also did a bit of maintenance on the frames I've got in storage and I'll put some of those on the hive this week so they have a full brood box to fill. There are a few undrawn combs so hopefully they will draw all of those out and that'll mean I'm well set for next year. The weather has been very good these last few days and I think that has helped the bees a lot.