Great bees, that have surpassed my expectations.
Last year, because I had a colony that were getting to be a problem, ( rather aggressive ) I purchased two new queen bees from another supplier and I split and re-queened them. The cost was over £100, and they both failed.
Luckily I spotted over wintered 6 frame Nuk's for sale at The Hive Guys, I ordered one early this year, which arrived end of April.
I re-housed them and released the queen ( which was caged for transport ) and let them fly out.
These bees are brilliant, the queen is filling the drawn comb with new brood
and the workers are working well ( without aggression ). It is a pleasure doing my hive inspections.
I did however make one mistake, all of my bees are on 14 x 12 National deep foundation so I now have burr comb extending down from the standard frames that the bees came on which I will have to sort outing the future.
I am confident that I will be ordering another over wintered colony next year, and to over come this problem I will make a box to fill the space under the six standard frames such that the bees will not be able to extend burr comb down, and have the rest of the deep frames each side, this will make my inspections much easier.