It was a gentle start to the day, as I would not be walking the dogs this morning.
The reason for this adjustment to my normal routine, was because 30% had a physio appointment at the hospital in Worcester. We had therefore arranged for her to attend the appointment, and then meet up with B&H for lunch afterwards.
A little after midday we arrived at The Swan at Whittington. Drinks and food were ordered, and gentle teasing and leg pulling took place. We then attended to the main agenda item, which is the planning of next year's holiday.
Surprisingly this will not be another narrowboating adventure. We will be going much further afield, as we are planning a safari holiday in Africa. Various options have been explored and we have settled on a tour in Zambia and Botswana, that will include a visit to the Victoria Falls. Our preferred dates are a fortnight at the beginning of July '27, and H has been tasked with checking availability, securing the appropriate discounts and making the booking. 30% will need to ensure our dog sitter has the availability to accommodate our mutts, whilst B and I sit back and do nothing secure in the knowledge that we would only get in the way!
After a pleasant and productive lunch, we headed home, and I assembled my beekeeping kit.
I needed to move the nucleus colony, that I created last week, to a full sized brood box.* I also needed to check the other new hive (Hive #4), perform a full inspection of hive #1, and just check the supers of hives #2 and #3.
The transfer of the nuc to hive #5 was swiftly performed and all seems well. The queen is laying and her colony is starting to grow in size. This nucleus colony is being fed syrup, and this is making it easy for them to both build comb, and lay down some stored food.
Hive #4 is also doing well. This is the nucleus colony created with the queen from hive #2. They were moved in to a full sized brood last week and, consequently, are a little larger than #5. They are being managed in the same way as Hive #5. Basically the plan is to get them to increase in size, so that the brood nest is covering at least six or seven frames. At that point I may even add a super and see if I can get a small honey crop from them. later in the year.
I then went on to inspect hive #1. They seem to be bringing in surplus nectar and I estimate that the super is, perhaps, three quarters full. They are not yet capping off the cells in the super, so we are way off harvesting honey at the moment. The inspection of the brood box then followed, and all was well. There were a few queen cups to squash, but no serious signs of swarming. This colony is also incredibly well tempered. So, I have a calm colony that is reluctant to swarm ... I really should look to rearing a few queens from this hive!**
I then checked the supers on hives #2 and #3. Both were slowly being filled with honey. There was no point inspecting the brood boxes as both hives are raising young queens at present. I would not expect these to have mated, and be laying for at least another couple of weeks.
I can report that all seems well in my little apiary.
Next on my list was to get the mower out of the shed and perambulate around the front lawn, and the verge outside the cottage. I didn't get as far as mowing the grass around the garage, but that five minute job can wait for another day.
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* This will be hive #5. I plan to create a separate Journal entry that briefly summarises the origins of each of my hives. For example; Hive #5 is a nucleus colony created in April '26 with the queen from Hive #3.
** Desirable genetics?
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