I have inspected all my hives and see that things are progressing nicely in 7 out of 8 hives. Unfortunately one hive swarmed about 3 weeks ago.  It happens to us all !!  Though not happy it had swarmed it has given me the opportunity to replace some old frames of comb within the brood box. So at least once drawn the new queen will have some fresh clean comb to lay in.

The lime trees have stopped flowering, however the bees are disappearing off over the village to an unknown source. Though I have found some bees working the fragrant privet bushes in the hedge between me and my neighbour.

Weather still very warm here, though some rain is forecast to come up from the south west over the next week.  The bees have just over a month to fill the supers with honey, as my aim is to take off full supers for extraction around about the 9th August.  This will give me time to extract the honey, filter it and allow it to settle before putting into jars.  I have a small trade stand at the Downham Market Water Festival on Sunday 14th August and will need this honey to sell on the stand. 

Honey bee collecting nectar from Privet