📝 First fall schedule inspection at Day 151! Brood naturally reducing as colony prepares for winter, completely normal. Fresh eggs confirm queen active. Flow super packed with honey — harvest date officially set for October 9th! After harvest, oxalic acid mite treatment and supplemental feeding to build winter stores. The first-year honey harvest is happening!

📝 Minimal disturbance check at Day 133! Added DFM probiotic, swapped plastic for metal queen excluder. Camera check from entrance confirmed no swarm cells. Flow super still almost full, bees very busy. Discovered they are foraging Little John Bottlebrush flowers nearby! Orientation flights captured on video. Harvest is very close!

📝 Quick 10-day inspection at Day 123! Colony packed with bees, lots of capped brood, queen spotted but too fast for a photo. Flow super is almost full! First-year honey harvest is very close. Plan to harvest before winter and supplement feed after if needed. What an incredible first-year journey!

📝 Missed Aug 14th but got in today! Super calm bees at Day 112. Queen found on Frame 2, loads of capped brood. The big news — LOTS of honey now in the Flow super! First-year harvest is back on before winter. Plan to add DFM next inspection and supplement feed after harvest if needed. Exciting times!

📝 Best inspection yet! Bees were great at Day 98. Queen found on Frame 6 with beautiful close-up photos. Loads of capped brood throughout. The BIG news — nectar is finally being stored in the Flow super frames! Weeks of patience paid off. Mite treatment planned for mid-August. The BeeHiveCastle is thriving!

📝 Best inspection in weeks! Queen found immediately on Frame 1 with a beautiful close-up photo. Super healthy hive at Day 91 with lots of capped brood on all 8 frames. Bees completely calm. Flow super still being worked on, no nectar capped yet. Mite treatment planned for mid-August. Colony is in great shape heading into fall!

📝 Super calm bees at Day 63! All 8 bottom frames healthy with loads of capped brood. Queen found on Frame 2 below the excluder. Nectar flow is on! Bees sealing Flow super cell gaps with wax, getting ready to store nectar. Will pull Flow frames next inspection July 6th!

📝 Found bottom box was sugar water bound — stopped all feeding! Medium 2nd box barely touched after 18 days, decided to switch to Flow super. Found queen on Frame 7 with faded white mark. June 23rd installed queen excluder and Flow super with wax-painted frames. Bees started working within minutes! By June 24th already closing cell gaps. Honey season begins! 🍯

📝 Bees doing great at Day 51! All 8 bottom box frames healthy. Witnessed waggle dance on Frame 8. Quick peek at box 2 showed fresh comb being drawn. Surprise find — the queen was spotted on the middle frame of box 2! She had a tiny bit of paint on her wings from last week but looks perfectly healthy. Next full inspection June 22!

📝 Best inspection yet! Found and marked the queen on Frame 7 with white paint, the official 2026 color. Second box is fully drawn on all frames. Bottom box full of healthy bees. Bees were super calm with no head butting. Continuing 1:1 sugar water feeding. Next check June 17!

📝 Colony thriving at Day 37! All 8 frames inspected, more brood on every frame. Found practice queen cups, no larvae inside. Lots of pollen on Frame 8. Added 2nd box on June 4th with pollen patty bridge. Also got my first sting — lesson learned about bare hands and suit scent! 🐝

📝 Bees were super calm, queen spotted on Frame 2 laying beautifully on the new center frames. New brood visible, honey bound issue almost fully corrected. Destroyed practice queen cells. Light 1:1 sugar top-up. Next week, clean frame edges and add box 2!

📝 QUEEN SPOTTED for the first time on Frame 4 center right! Rotated frames 2 and 6 to center to give her more laying space. Supercedure cups from last week were a false alarm, completely gone. Colony correction is working!