Last November, fearing my one colony might not survive the winter, I ordered 2 nucleus colonies as a backup plan! Thankfully I didn’t need that backup plan but I was still looking forward to their arrival. We collected and hived them today and are now the proud owners of four colonies!
Boxes of bees in the boot.
Dogs very interested.
Stuart taking a hive to the apiary.
Me taking a hive to the apiary.
Hiving the first box.
Moving the frames across.
Finding the Queen.
The marked Queen.
Last frame in.
Stuart hiving a box.
Putting the frames in.
The marked Queen.
Last few frames.
Dunting the bees into the hive.
The apiary with 4 live colonies and one empty hive waiting for the Snelgrove split to work.
Bee Bedlam 
What is your reason for marking them blue? Isn’t this years color white?
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Hi
Yes you are correct, white is this year’s colour. The queen which I finally found on Sunday, I marked with white. However, I didn’t mark the queens in the nucs, the supplier did. He was saying that if you’re small scale, which I am, then the colour doesn’t really matter because you’ll remember what year you got the queen or can easily check your records. He thinks it’s best to choose a colour that stands out so you can spot her easily. The blue is a small shiny disc with a number on it and it’s stuck on. If am honest, I’m just happy I can spot her!
Regards,
Helen
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Actually, when I think about it, she’ll have been an over wintered queen so blue for 2015. The one I’ve just marked white, because that was the only pen I had, was a nuc I got last year so an over wintered 2014 queen and should have been green. As I say, I’ll know how old they are because I don’t have many!
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