Beekeeping - First inspection of the new Hive IQ

In late Autumn in Australia (April 2022), I caught a swarm in my backyard - see the original video here    • Beekeeping - checking on the swarm af...  . The timing was highly unusual given it was close to winter, so we held our breaths hoping this small swarm would survive over the colder months. The swarm was kept in a polystyrene nucleus box, with a reduced entrance due to it being initially robbed by our other two hives.

Once Summer arrived we were confident there were enough bees in the nucleus box to be able to transfer to a standard sized hive. The timing coincided with the release of the new Australian designed HiveIQ 9-frame polystyrene hives, so we purchased one and put the bees into it, using a single box as the brood box. We transferred 5 drawn frames across - we filled out the rest of the box with frames with foundation, and one frame of honey, taken from another hive. Later on in the Summer months, the colony was big enough to put another box on top.

This is what the hive looks like mid-summer, inspected on a hot early February day in the middle of the day. We were also lucky enough to spot the queen, who is quite orange! Can you spot her?