The elaborate maze of clear plastic tubing
directing the bees in and out of the hive
is a significant obstacle for them to over-
come. At times the tubing becomes a bot-
tleneck when bees trying to enter the hive
are met with an equal number of bees try-
ing to leave. Bees trying to clean the hive
of debris have significantly more work to
carry their load up the tubing to the exit.
This makes it imperative for the class-
room beekeeper to clean out the dead bees
and debris. Supplemental feedings of sugar
syrup or honey are needed when the bees
are not able to store enough honey due to
limited space or when there are not many
flowers blooming. I also feel the small exit
hole does not always provide adequate
ventilation. Because of these problems
I have found that it is better to move the
colony outdoors to a full-sized hive box in
the fall after the first frost. Outdoor bees
have an easier time cleaning the hive, have
more storage space for honey, pollen, and
brood, and have better ventilation. With
a minimum amount of maintenance they My son and I search for the queen. We make sure
can survive throughout the winter months.
she is laying eggs and that the brood is doing well.
A lucky find
One spring afternoon I saw a swarm of
wild bees. They were on a low branch
where I could easily reach them, so I hur-
ried home to retrieve my bee suit, an ice
chest, and a small jar of honey. By the
time I made it back to the swarm, they
had moved to a tall snag, just out of reach.
What would have been an easy job of just
clipping off the branch and lowering it into
the ice chest had become a bit more chal-
lenging.
I found a long stick that would just
reach the swarm, covered one end with
copious amounts of honey, and used it to
carefully knock the swarm down into my
ice chest. Surprisingly, it all worked out as
planned. The queen was somewhere in the
middle of the swarm, and the disturbed
workers that were buzzing around eventu-
ally calmed down and landed in the ice
chest to be with their queen and the free
honey I supplied.
Emptying a package of bees into the observation
Swarming bees are usually quite doc-
hive boxes turns out to be a bit trickier than
ile, because they have gorged themselves
emptying bees into a conventional hive.
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