Did my last inspection for the (long) season before packing the hive down for winter.
Stores of both honey and pollen are reasonable. Probably the equivalent of 2 and a bit frames of pollen, 3 to 4 frames of brood or eggs and the rest mostly honey (with some empty space). I also managed to get a shade over 3 full flow frames for harvest, which is what I had been expecting given what I observed in the last harvest.
No drones to be seen and bee numbers down (both as expected given the time of year).
Last winter bee numbers were a little higher so I left the hybrid super on. This year I’ve packed it down to only a brood box and removed both the hybrid super and full flow super. Subject to weather I’ll aim to do my first inspection for next season late July or early August, as I anticipate having to put a super on my mid to late August.
Thankfully I’ve got 4 traditional frames full of honey so I can just monitor the weight of the hive and if I need to I can feed those frames in (or I can squeeze 9 frames in the brood box like I did a couple of seasons ago). (The frames are now in the freezer… No wax moth for me, please!)
The season itself was pretty good… Just a pity I had the issue with the excluder and ended up with brood in flow frames. Live and learn.