Andy and I found the box “bursting with bees” this morning (Tuesday 7 July). We couldn’t see the queen until the last frame was removed and then I spotted her lurking on the woodwork in the bottom corner of the hive. The colony continues to grow and the queen is now laying on 7:9 frames. We removed another frame of stores, to replace it with a frame of foundation. At this time of year, the bees will start to “backfill” with nectar what used to be cells used for the queen to l

Steve and I did the inspection on 22 June and found all to be well with the new colony. The blue queen was laying on 5 frames on comb. We still need to keep an eye on how the colony builds up, to make sure they don’t get overcrowded again, especially with more hot weather on the way. From the time of the Summer Solstice (21 June 2026), the queen gradually begins to reduce the number of eggs she lays each day. This allows the colony to shrink to a manageable size to get throug

2026: CC Bee Blog 9 This morning (15 June) Steve and I found that the new colony had settled well into its new home at Cliffe Castle. The blue queen (who doesn’t have a name yet – we’ll have to have another competition!) is laying over 4 frames and the flying bees had been bringing back nectar and pollen, when the weather was calm enough for them to get out into the parkland. Lee and I struggled trying to get the frames to fit into the hive last week. Today, Steve and I strug

2026: Cliffe Castle Bee Blog 8 Lee and I checked the colony this morning (8 June). We found 3 emergency queen cells on the frames. All last week’s eggs had become larvae, last week’s larvae sealed brood. I had brought a small poly nucleus box to take them back home to my apiary and will reduce the queen cells to one tomorrow. We transferred the bees I had brought today (a split from my 2nd home colony) into the observation hive, with their queen (who is blue, so she dates fro

2026: CC Bee Blog 7 Catastrophe! When Andy and I checked the colony on Monday 1 June, we found that they had swarmed and we had a much-reduced number of bees, with a few eggs and larvae on 4 frames. Museum staff member, Sally Anne, advised that they had swarmed on Saturday 30 May. This was two days before we would have expected to find a newly mated queen laying eggs in the hive. If you visited the museum over the half term holiday, you would have seen that the observation h

Today, Sunday 10 May, Anthony and I called in at Cliffe Castle to check whether the bees had been busy using some of the eggs that Beedicca left on the combs to raise a replacement queen, now that she is back at our apiary site. Sure enough, we found a total of 5 queen cells over 3 frames in the hive. We chose the one that was best placed on its frame to survive the journey back to the hive stand, and pushed a drawing pin into the top of the frame, to help remind us where it

On Monday 4 May, Steve and I checked the hive that we could easily see was rammed with bees. As anticipated, they had made a start on preparations to swarm. We found two early queen cells, full of royal jelly with a larva floating in each. Beekeepers call these “charged” cells. Sadly, because the cells were at the bottom of the frame and the frames in the observation hive hang above one another, the cells were accidentally damaged during removal. But they were a clear warning

Lee and I checked the bees this morning (27 April) in glorious warm sunshine. They are clearly happy to be back at the museum and doing very well. Queen Beedicca is laying on 8 frames of comb now! Lee’s photos show just how busy she has been. The queen has laid an egg in almost every cell on some of the frames. After 3 days, the eggs become larvae. The frame I am holding, with lots of biscuity-brown covering on the comb is a nursery, where larvae are hidden in the cells, chan

On Friday 10 April Lee, Mick and I checked out Beedicca’s colony at our apiary site (where we keep the ABKA bees). They were looking good (see the photo below) and we knew it was time to plan to take them back to Cliffe Castle. Jonathan and I collected the bees from the ABKA Apiary yesterday evening and after a night in the boot of my car, they returned to Cliffe Castle this morning, Monday 13 April. Steve and I transferred them from their winter poly nucleus box to the obser

Some fine weather at our ABKA Apiary on 31 March, when we checked how Queen Beedicca and her girls were doing. Pleased to find she is now laying on 4 frames of comb – just like Beeyonce, when we returned the bees last spring. It’s almost time to bring them back now, but it will probably have to be after the school holidays this year. Keep an eye out for more updates to find out when you can see the bees at Cliffe Castle for the new season. In the meantime, Lee kindly took thi

Dear Visitors, Due to an early Easter and some very changeable weather, the observation hive colony is not yet strong enough to be brought back to Cliffe Castle in time for the start of the school Easter Holidays. But we will keep an eye on how the bees are doing and hope to return them, safely, very soon. The Observation Hive Team for 2026, is: Steve Johnson, Lee Brotherton, Anthony Calvert and Linda Schofield, with help from Mike Barlow and Mick Berry as needed.

2025 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #9 Well, that’s all folks! Last night (8 September) at 7.30pm Steve and I collected the bees from Cliffe...

2025 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #8 Mike Latham and I checked the bees this morning (1 st September), on a cool and windy day. Even though we...

2025 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #8 Lee and I found our new queen to be laying on 4 frames in the colony at today’s inspection (18th...

2025 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog # 7 Anthony and I checked the bees this morning (11 August) and I marked her blue (rather heavy handed – she...

2025: Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #7 Can you believe that it has taken from 5 May to 4 August to finally find a laying queen in our little...

2025: Cliffe Castle Bee Blog number 6 Sunday 11 May brought a very warm morning for Lee and I to check the observation hive for a viable...

Blog number 5 - 5th May 2025 Today, Anthony, student beekeeper Jacqui and I found that the spring build up in the observation hive...

Blog number 4, 28th April 2025 Steve and I checked the observation hive this morning - and what a change in the weather from last week!...

Blog number 3 - 21st April 2025 A chilly, wet, morning for Lee and I to check the observation hive today, but it was necessary. Bee-Yonce...