The Black Locust trees are still in full bloom and the bees should be bringing in nectar and making capped cells of honey at a frenetic pace. I will do an inspection on the next sunny day and with luck I might be able to add a second honey super to hive #1. I see lots of pollen arriving with the bees, so I am optimistic. I didn’t lose any bees to swarming (yet), so I have the largest population ever going into May.

The new hive seems to be doing well. I still think I would like to replace the queen later in the summer if I can get a mated queen. I’m not sure of the mating success rate in late summer. Are there still sufficient numbers of drones around? I don’t know. This hive has three medium brood boxes with a honey super. I don’t expect to get as much honey, but I am hoping for a few frames for extraction.