The big move!

New hives arrived early May. They are like pieces of furniture! Lovely finish and made to precision by a beekeeper in Yorkshire who is a furniture maker. I found him on the internet and then checked him out on the forum and got glowing reports about his handiwork. I am very pleased - excellent product at an excellent price. So, Steve and I transferred the frames from the old commercial box into the  new - BUT WE DIDN'T FIND QUEEN - Aghhh! Just hope we missed her and she went in. Removed the old brood box (now empty of brood) but found a sealed queen cell on comb built off of the shallow frame. Don't think it can be viable as queen not been down there for 4 weeks! There is also an empty queen cell so it is possible that a new queen has been made in the bottom brood box (that can happen as the extra large nest box formed by one box atop another can mean that the queen substance does not reach all parts of the hive) The new queen (if she exists) will now have been shaken into the new box along with most of the bees that were in the bottom box. I kept some bees in the old box and moved it to one side to see what happens to the sealed queen cell. The 1st honey super is now pretty full so I added another. I took out a full frame of honey from the brood box and one from the old brood box. Took them home and crushed and drained about 6 lbs of honey off!! Delicious!