Our friend Martin has recently got himself a beehive. Although we're new bee keepers ourselves, we're helping him out as best we can. I went over to his apiary this afternoon to make sure all was well before he goes away for few days holiday. We went right through the brood nest and saw nectar stores, brood, sealed brood, sealed honey and the queen. All looked good with no signs of swarm preparation. We expanded the brood space to give them a bit more room and closed it all up. Job done.