Evidence from the hive floor

Hive E was showing some unusual activity today, given that it's supposed to be empty. There were bees coming and going from the entrance and a large amount of debris on the hive floor. There were wax moth larvae; large bits of comb and wax which had been nibbled from white and heavily propolised comb

I went to the visit the bees at my out-apiary this morning. I took the lids off the hives but left the brood area alone (except for Hive F) because the air temperature was cool. Everything was finished by 0630.

A side effect of looking at hives in the early morning is that all their flying bees are still in the hive. These are the bees which are most likely to defend the colony. As a result the bees seemed noticeably more angry when I opened the hives.

All the hives have plenty of space, with the possible exception of E.