Cannot believe i left this so long....loads to do obviously lol. Anyway not much to report on the hives, we did a thorough check on both hives last week before the cooler weather set in (not that we had any warm weather mind you) Hive 1 which had the dry swarms had definitely swarmed and our worry was that no uncapped brood was seen at all. Luckily we spotted uncapped and capped brood which lets us know there is definitely a queen on board :) 1 super has stores, the second has drawn wax and there are stores in the brood box as well, this hive all though not as busy should be ok for the coming months. The bee's in this hive are quieter than hive 2 and a lot lighter in colour so definitely buckfast strain.
Hive 2 is very different to hive 1, very busy, lots of stores (though not as much as hive 1) a lot more aggressive and a lot darker in colour which will be interesting in how they compare to the other hive for next year. No queen cells but still a few drones in both hives so they have not been kicked out quite yet lol. I reckon i will get 1 or 2 hive checks done over next few weeks depending on weather then that will be it until march. Not sure on winter checking i will need to read up but obviously i will keep the sugar syrup going so they don't starve.
