May 9

May 9 – Apiary Update and What You Should “Bee” doing!

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Even Jax completes his checklist of things to do with his hive.

It has been a beautiful weather for our bees and all seem to be thriving.  I make visits to our Apiary to check on all hives, and I have been very pleased with the care you are giving them.  We will continue to feed them 1:1 sugar water until this weekend.

Please note that Josh Anders hive is back in place.  We completed a “Bee Stealth” operation last and successfully moved his hive back to his location at the apiary.  If you visit the apiary in the next two days, you will notice a a large brushy bush in front of his hive.  DO NOT MOVE IT!  This is how we are successfully relocating his hive in less than three miles.  Normally bees fly out of the hive on auto-pilot and do not worry about where they are because they have their own gps which will take them home.  However, when they exit the hive now…they have to stop and look around because their normal path is blocked.  This causes the bees to look around and they determine something has changed?  This abnormal exit caused them to RESET their gps to their new location.  This is a method I researched and found that many old time beekeepers use to relocate hives successfully.  It is much less stressful than having to seal them inside their hive for 3 days.  We will know if we are successful if the bees do not show back up at my home.  Even if they do, there is a chance they will find their old hive.

Your Weekend Checklist for your bees:  (Do this on your own)

  1. Suit up and take your top feeder off.  Take your topWhile you have it off, you may take a look into your hive….but lets not pull any frames out right now.  We will be doing a complete hive inspection in another week.
  2. Replace only the screen.  If you have been pouring sugar water through your screen, please take time to hose it off well before you replace it,  (Hose behind the house).  Be sure your have the escape route facing down so bees may exit this way.
  3. Replace top.  I have noticed some of you have still not weighted your telescoping top down.  A hard summer storm can lift your top off if not weighted down.
  4. Use your hive tool and remove your entrance reducer completely.  Take this home as we will need it again this winter.
  5. Send Mr. G a text when you have completed this weekend check and give me a brief report on the condition of your bees.


Posted May 9, 2016 by Scott Griffin. (Mr. G) in category Uncategorized

About the Author

Elementary Teacher (37 years retired), Photographer, Storyteller, Bee Keeper. Started keeping bees with my grandson when he was 3 years old. It is something we enjoy learning and doing together. Proud member of the Gaston County Beekeepers Association, North Carolina Beekeepers Association. Graduate of the Penn State Beekeeping School. We are all about the bees first. The honey is simply their way of saying thank you!🐝🐝🐝

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