Exercise 2 solution

Late winter: growing slowly (queen resumes laying; probably day length).
Spring and early summer: growing fast, then a split if the colony swarms (flowers abundant, peak laying).
Midsummer: at peak, 40,000 to 80,000 bees.
Early autumn: levelling off then shrinking (queen slows laying; summer workers live only weeks).
Winter: shrinking or steady (queen may stop laying; honey stores consumed).

Sample gaps: the article does not give exact dates or months, how conditions differ outside temperate climates, or what the beekeeper should do in each season. (Any one of these is a correct answer.)