The weather is proving difficult, so the bees need feeding daily or at least every other day.  They ahve used 5 litres in the last 5 days.  As the bees can't get out easily, making a pollen substitute seems important, Steve found a recipe on the Scottish Beekeepers Association website http://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/TDS%20number%209%20pollen%20substitute.pdf  for the recipe. 
The Hives are marked 1 (colony) and 2 (nuc) now.  Hive inspection last Thursday:
1 - Healthy, comb on the top bars adn the colony is calm, but there is little nectar / food in cells.  The queen wasn't seen, so will have to be looked for carefully in the next inspection - due around Wednesday / Thursday next week weather permitting.  The feeder was empty - so they are making good use of them. 
2 - A bit less organised, they had built comb which collapsed and Steve will remove today, the bees will ahve had the opportunity to clean it off.  They are not feeding as much as the other hive, but are using the feeder.  They are coming and going from the hive and were calm when inspected.  Again no queen seen, but need to let them build more comb before inspecting again - so need to be left longer than hive 1.


Steve has contacted Brian to organise his help in inspecting the hives and will let us all know dates for this.  The rota has now been emailed out, so we should all be getting into the swing of beekeeping over the next months. 

To do:
Fill in the meeting dates emal Louise sent out.
Make the pollen substitute and more feed
Ensure feeders are topped up daily or every other day at the least
Make 8 more top bars to block gaps