A wise apiarist once said to me, "Let the bees just bee and they will thrive...interact only as necessary to keep them happy, healthy, and productive." Some may argue that "wise apiarist" is an oxymoron, but that is a whole new post within itself.
A day has passed since I last manipulated the hives. I worked as diligently as a worker bee Sunday(though Emily would argue I am more like a drone) so I could drive up The Plantation today to check the bees! "The Plantation" is what Ben calls the plot of land we are using to develop these hives as well as expand his organizations horticultural ventures. One word to describe today...glorious! The sun was shining and only a few clouds dotted the sky. The hives were baking in the sun as all good bee hives love to do. The water is plentiful nearby and the bees were already hard at work collecting pollen and nectar and growing the hives at their new location.
I took my friend Tim with me this time. He was able to take a few shots on my camera of what he was surely hoping would be a good old fashion sting fest. Unfortunately for him today was ideal for me to visit the hive and move some frames around. Oh yeah, that means I received no stings!
Today was hive introduction and expansion day number one. Basically I moved all the frames from the NUC to a hive body I had prepared, inserted follower boards into the 10 frame medium hive, and moved two frames to an upper, mostly empty box. What is a follower board? A follower board is sometimes called a dummy board. It is the same size as a frame, but there is nowhere for the bees to build on because it is solid wood. The idea is that it creates a buffer between occupied frames and the hive body wall and acts like insulation. It also creates better ventilation in the hive and gives the bees a place to chill that is not directly on the drawn comb. In short, this is my effort to maximize the queens ability to lay close to the edge of the hive and allow for less boxes to be used solely for brood (where baby bees come to...well...bee!). Also, a well ventilated hive means a happy and healthy colony!
I put the top back on the NUC since I could not find the queen. This means that she is either still in the NUC or in the new hive (hopefully). I will find out next time when all of the bees are in one or the other location. I will probably go back out tomorrow just to take a peek at how they are doing after all the commotion today. This does, however, bring us back to the opening of this posting. I will not be manipulating the bees at all, just observing...so no worries there.
Enough talk...enjoy the pictures!
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| This is a scene as we left today. You can see the irrigation channel in the background. |
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| This was a true test...did I seal up the hives tight enough? Needless to say I drove with my beekeeper's veil right next to me (just in case). |
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| Moving from the NUC to the new hive body. |
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| The leftovers in the NUC...can you see the queen? I sure didn't. |
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| Brenhan apparently does not use frame foundation. I must read more about this technique before employing it. |
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| Another shot of the medium hive with entrance reducer and "queen includer". |
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| The first time I opened the hives...11 p.m. after an hour drive. Next scene is me running to the car... |
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| Removing Frames to expand the hive and also install follower boards. |
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| Yum! Look at all that comb! |
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| One last shot at the hives before we left to celebrate Memorial Day. |
Until next time, remember to bee kind to your neighborhood pollinators!
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