Fooled ya

The sick hive was looking a lot better, but they ran out of honey and appeared to be having trouble finding nectar. I fed them some sugar solution - 4 or 5 litres in total, about 2kg of sugar - as a stopgap. While feeding, I took the honey 'super' boxes away - to avoid the bees putting sugar in them - which made the hive less than half the size it was

Since Covid, we all know that a tightly-packed crowd is great for virus transmission; wanting to avoid a relapse, I left an empty box for them to expand into a little, to alleviate the crush. It was only for three days and they are supposed to be sick! Rather than squirrel away the last drop of syrup, they have chosen to use it to fuel wax production, start filling the empty space, and make the beekeeper look a fool. They split into teams, and had one lot building up from the bottom and a second one building down from the top*. I'm sure it would have become something beautiful. Glad you have your sense of humour back, everyone, the joke's on me

So, we have another Xmas candle, the bees have renewed vigour, and they should now be fine until the lime and blackberries flower. We have restored the hive to its former configuration and told them that, if they are so full of enthusiasm, they might think about making some honey. My guess is they will just start planning the next trick

*the extra - inverted for the picture