Last weekend I put some polystyrene sheets in at the edges of the occupied area in some of my weaker colonies, and syrup overhead. Just had a look at the one in the garden. It seems to have forgiven me for mucking about with a free-hanging comb but was busy - very audibly - chewing into that nice insulation I gave them. They are almost through parts of the 25mm sheet. They really don't like it!

Are they trying to enlarge the brood nest at a the side where the brood is close to the wall? Plenty of space the other way. Do they remember the size the box used to be, and want to enlarge it again? Would they do this as routine inside a rotten cavity in a tree?

This colony looks as if it might win me a Mars Bar, and besides being uniformly brown it seems tolerant of clumsy beekeepers. Of course that could change as it gets up to full strength, but another nuc this size has indicated that *it* is planning not to stand for any nonsense and the comparison is stark.

I suppose that I'll have to line my dummy boards with plywood after all ....

G.