Hi Courtney, that’s a great result & thanks for sharing the photos. Some people don’t like bees having access to the roof, so I’m glad that you allow your bees access to it. For me, access to the roof/lid lets me know how the bee population is going, especially during spring & summer. If I see a cluster of bees in the roof doing nothing, I quickly split the hive to prevent swarming.
I tried to get your neighbor to lift the roof once a fortnight, as a means of monitoring the population growth, however he blocked the hole & the colony swarmed.
I know you’ve got a lot on your plate, however lifting the roof once a fortnight would be a good idea for keeping the roof easy to lift, plus monitoring the population growth, especially this coming spring to help prevent swarming. I’ll be doing my first splits late next month, at a guess.