Under the Crown Board.

The weather wasn’t ideal, but I was really keen to see what was going on; this bee colony had been gobbling food and I wasn’t sure there was enough to keep it alive for much longer. I had actually considered the possibility of re-queening it later in the year as frugality is a great virtue amongst bee populations but, once the lid was off, the reason for the extravagance was clear, there were more bees in this one hive than in the other three put together; since the lady heading this one brought a colony consisting of a mere handful of heavily diseased bees through the last winter against all the odds, I am suddenly aware that she is probably my greatest asset at the moment. How could I have been so silly as to doubt her? (There’s no need to answer that).
 
It is obvious that she does have some faults, she has mated with a mixed lot of drones as is shown by the variation in the colour of her progeny; they vary from almost black (good in that it indicates a close relationship with the native bee) to having pronounced yellow bands indicating some imported ancestry. The other problem is the propensity to build wild comb, the unframed comb at the bottom of the picture, not a serious issue but something to keep me on my toes.
 
However, the important thing at this time of the year is that all four of my hives have survived the winter and, although April is the month when most colonies die of starvation, I am now into the regime of spring feeding so this is unlikely to be an issue.