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Towards the end of May I found a couple of recently started queen cells in one of the colonies at the association apiary.
Our group was meeting the following evening so I used the opportunity to demonstrate an artificial swarm.
I removed the queen and most of the brood to a 7 frame nuc box and after removing several queen cells, I inserted a grafted cell due to hatch the next day. I checked this 2 days later and the queen had emerged.
So far so good.
For one reason or ...

I checked one of my cell raiser colonies this afternoon and 7out of 8 cells had been pulled down at the side. These were not due to hatch until next Monday so the virgin had not emerged from one of the grafted cells.

I started checking the frames and there was a pollen frame with just a small patch of about 20 cells of brood and they had made a sneaky queen cell from one of these which had a perfect circular exit hole.

Bad enough to lose 7 cells but I now had to find ...

Our queen rearing group met again this evening and we got a few more cells into apideas.
Good turnout on a damp evening with nearly 20 present.

The forecast for the next two weeks look poor and we have a lot of queens in apideas ready to take a mating flight any time now. Most of them emerged on the 2nd or 3rd June.
There are 25 more cells with queen due to emerge this Thursday and a further 20 due to hatch the following Monday 18th.
All it needs is one half hour ...

We now have about 35 signed up to the group and are getting over 20 people turning up some evenings.
There was a batch of 65 cells due to hatch at the weekend and homes were found for all of them, mostly in apideas but also to requeen several colonies which had swarmed a few days before. Several people brought in apideas and we did not have enough cells to put in them all.
Last night I checked 26 apideas at the mating site and 22 of the queens had emerged.
I have 18 of my own ...

Here we are in June already. So what gives? The bees are booming and I have every box except one nuc with bees in now (plus a couple I've borrowed). Six to fifteen plus three Apideas if all the queens mate, although several boxes of bees will be used to requeen the less mild stocks and boost the strength for the heather. On the basis that you learn from your mistakes I've learned a lot (again) this year. The season started early with rape in flower early in April and it is still in full flower ...