Super!

Hive1 was looking decidedly crowded so I ordered a another super. I needed it in a hurry so I used eBay -I've noticed eBay sellers tend to post things a lot faster than commercial bee keeping suppliers and I was able to find someone selling an unused super with frames and foundation.

Cedar Super

I haven't treated this box with green paint like the rest of the hive as it's new cedar so, in theory at least, shouldn't need it and won't take paint too well. Maybe when it's weathered a bit I'll give it a go for the sake of aesthetics. Oh in case you're wondering "WTF is a super?" it's just a box that goes above the brood and bees store more honey in for the beekeeper to rob. In August you're really supposed to be thinking about removing the supers and extracting the honey but it seems that things are running a little late this year.

I inspected both hives on the Friday this week. Lots of eggs and brood in both, Hive2 is still catching up but they're storing honey in the super as well now. At the moment I have an entrance reducer on Hive2 to make it easier to defend from wasps and more importantly the bees in Hive1 as they're a far bigger colony at the moment.