At last I get a proper look at my bees – not great weather, very windy but quite warm and dry. They have begun drawing out all three new frames and, as you can see on the photo below, there is plenty of nectar and I’m pretty sure I saw the queen laying an egg on this one (you can see her at the bottom of the frame). Having watched queen marking and clipping yesterday at the Association beginners session, I decided to have a go and got my queen marked! She seemed to walk off happily afterwards so don’t think I injured her. I didn’t feel brave enough to have a go at clipping her wings though.

Inside my hive

Saw plenty of stores and larvae on all five of the original nuc frames but no eggs (I have never actually seen an egg – not sure my eyes are up to it).

Frame covered in bees

I did see one queen cup – hopefully just a play cup, which I destroyed as I’d seen the queen. All looking good so far!