Busy bees

The bees in both hives have been quite busy over the last few weeks. The smaller hive is doing better this week; there are more signs of honey and brood. We did not see the queen today, but there are signs of new queen cells being created, so perhaps the colony is planned to replace her? We shall see.

 

The larger hive is not doing so well. There has been no sign of a new queen since they swarmed a month ago. Although there is brood it appears to be drones and if so that may mean the colony is in decline. We will seek further advice to see what can be done to save the hive, but for now in the photo above you can see the protruding capped brood which is signs that it is mostly drone brood.