Rush Hour

A quick trip to the bees to give them an additional box. They now have the large box where the queen is confined, so that she lays her eggs there, and three smaller boxes ('supers') where they are invited to store honey. On the whole, that is what they have been doing, though they left an arc of empty cells in the lowest super, and also put some pollen up there, dropping a heavy hint that they would really like a bigger brood area

I'm disinclined to give way. The queen will lay less every day from now on, any expansion will be abandoned within a couple of weeks. However, there are a lot of larvae already in progress. My compromise is to give them an extra super so that at least they have somewhere to stand! 

They are certainly putting some effort in. On another day of damp grey weather - not what they would have chosen - the entrance was busy and the pace was frantic. The main is a bee's-eye view across the landing board, into the bottom of the hive. The extra is a bird's-eye view of the same place. Both show the scramble to get in, unload and get back out again