Whilst doing so, I reconfigured the hive that does have a queen in it, adding supper beneath the brood box so that they have a brood and a half to over winter on. Hopefully that will give them plenty of room, some extra protection from the winter weather and keep them happy and healthy throughout the long dark months of winter.

I also decided to have one last look through the tiny colony that seemed to be dwindling. This had come from a swarm that we caught earlier in the year. Each time I’ve looked at it there have been one or two eggs, but very little in the way of brood, very few bees and no sign of an actual queen. I had a more thorough look today and once again there were definitely eggs at the bottom of some cells. One frame had some sealed brood on it, but there wasn’t much sign of new larvae anywhere and they have nothing in the way of stores either. I did however spot a queen. They do have a queen and she must be laying, albeit not very vigorously. However, a queen is beter than no queen and seeing as we have another queenless colony that was much stronger my best option was to merge the two to hopefully form one decent sized colony with a queen. Who knows, maybe having some food and more bees to count on, the queen might even be spurred into laying with a little more vigour. She is a new 2019 queen that hatched out of a queen cell in July so really she should be able to get herself into gear. Maybe if we can successfully merge her with the other colony they’ll be able to get through the winter together and she’ll start laying in earnest next Spring ready to make us a nice crop of honey.

We’ll see.

Al.