Our First Few Inspections — Meeting Beryl the Queen 👑 

🐝 Settling In
It’s been a few buzzing weeks since our very first swarm marched into their new home at Hollow and Hive. After giving them a little time to get comfortable, we finally donned our suits, lit the smoker, and began our first proper inspections.

🔎 First Look — Eggs but No Queen
During our very first peek inside, we didn’t manage to spot the queen herself. But tucked neatly in the cells were tiny, glistening eggs — the telltale sign she’d been there recently and was already hard at work. The bees were calm, focused, and already drawing fresh comb. A very reassuring start!

👑 Second Inspection — Say Hello to Beryl!
On our next visit, we struck gold: there she was, striding gracefully across the frame like true royalty. Our queen at last!

We’ve named her Beryl 💛 — strong, steady, and already building her kingdom. To help us find her more easily in the future, we gently marked her with a pink dot on her back — her little crown of colour. Now she’s much easier to spot among her thousands of loyal workers.

Alongside her, we saw eggs, larvae, and capped brood, proof that the colony was thriving under her rule.

🍯 Third Inspection — Stores and Strength
By the time we returned again, the hive was buzzing with progress. The bees had been hauling in nectar and pollen, filling cells with their treasures, and expanding the brood nest beautifully.

Beryl’s laying pattern looked steady and promising, and the colony remained gentle and calm — the kind of bees every beginner hopes for.

✨ What’s Next?
With the hive growing stronger each week, our focus now is making sure they’ve got enough space. We’ll soon be adding another box to give them room to spread their wings (and their honey stores).

From a mysterious queen to Beryl the Beautiful (with her pink crown!), our colony has already given us plenty of excitement. And this is only the beginning of the adventure…

💡 Did you know?
You can often tell a queen is present in the hive without seeing her at all. Freshly laid eggs (tiny grains of rice at the bottom of a cell) mean she was there within the last three days. Beekeepers call this “eggs = queenright” — a reassuring sign even if she’s hiding from view.

💡 Fun fact:
Beekeepers mark their queens with little coloured dots to make them easier to spot. There’s even an international colour code that changes each year, so you can tell a queen’s age at a glance. Our queen Beryl proudly wears a pink dot — her royal crown!