Queen No. 3 found and marked

The swarm I collected last Monday (the Bank Holiday) has drawn at least four frames of brood comb and the queen has layed in most of two sides - I stopped counting.

Wow. This is some huge queen. See photo below of queen sporting new green adornment. Yes, I know she's probably last year's queen (or older) becuase this was a prime swarm. And the fact that she is laying so soon after swarming is (I think) another indication that she is mature. But the green pen was to hand - and it's better than nothing.


These bees seem more prone to festooning that the previous colony. They run to the bottom of the frame and hang off it. But they seem very gentle. But there again - it is a lovely day. 22 degrees celsius and no wind. So what's not to like?

So we now have three queen-right colonies. Good oh.

But the question is what to do with this nuc? They can't stay in this box for long.