What an inspection! This was one of the most exciting visits to the BeeHiveCastle so far. The bees were completely calm with no head butting at all, a sign of a very queenright and content colony. The warm sunny 86°F day had the foragers busy and the hive buzzing with activity.
First stop was the second box and it's not fully drawn yet. All frames in the second medium box now starting to have drawn comb, just one week after we noticed them starting to work on it. The colony has been expanding rapidly and is clearly ready for more space. Continuing with 1:1 sugar water feeding to encourage them to move up and start filling the new comb.
The bottom brood box is full of healthy bees, beautiful solid brood pattern on every frame. The colony is at peak strength heading into summer!
The queen marking process was an adventure! We used a queen marking bottle to catch and hold her safely while applying the white paint dot. The "Help I'm Trapped" photo captures the moment perfectly, she was not impressed but came through it like the royalty she is! She was released back onto Frame 7 and immediately returned to laying.
Practice queen cups found again but completely empty with no larvae inside. The colony is not planning to swarm, this is just normal behavior for a thriving colony keeping its options open. No action needed.
After weeks of spotting her briefly and losing her in the crowd, today we finally caught the queen on Frame 7 and marked her with a white paint dot, the official color for 2026 queens! She is clearly healthy, well fed and laying beautifully throughout the bottom box.
Unfortunately we were so excited we forgot to take a photo of her on the frame! But the queen marking bottle photo captures the moment. From now on spotting her in inspections will be much easier with her bright white dot. 👑
