Hiving Honeybees - April 11, 2020

Hello Folks,

I hope this blog entry finds you and your loved ones happy and healthy. Despite the challenges of finding flights for shipping our bees to Fairbanks, Phil and Dale have been successful once again! The bees are beautiful and can't wait to get out and forage! We received seven colonies on April 9th and 10th. Temperatures were in the 30s for a couple days, so we waited until the weather warmed up to the 50s.

We received five Carniolans, one Italian, and two Russian colonies.

In preparation of receiving the bees, days in advance here's what we did:

• Brought all equipment inside the house to warm it up for bees.
• Cleaned up frames to remove comb in undesirable places.
• Cleaned inner feeders with hot water and a new sponge or clean rag - no soap or chemicals.
• Placed frames in proper order (empty cells in the middle for the queen to start laying eggs in as soon as she emerges from the queen cage).
• Made one gallon sugar water per colony with Honey B Healthy (Minimum 1:1 ratio sugar to water)
• Filled a spray bottle with diluted sugar water for feeding in shipping boxes while waiting for weather to warm up for hiving.
• Made sure sugar water and pollen patties were at room temperature.
• Made sure all outer lids had insulation in them.
• Insulated hives from inside and outside, including a one inch rigid foam for under the bottom board.
• Made sure we have two foundation bricks for each hive.

Just before hiving the colonies here's what we did:

• Set up a table for working space, tools, etc.
• Had a pitcher and funnel for pouring sugar water into feeders.

• Shoveled and used a snow blower to clear deep snow in a 15 X 20 foot rectangle in front of hives.
• Sprinkled dirt or ashes all over the snow to ensure the bees don't get confused between the ground and the sky because if they fly into the snow they will often times die from hypothermia.
• Covered side snowbanks with tarps for the same purpose as above.
• Cut an x into pollen patty wax paper.
• Set up one brood box on each pair of foundation bricks facing southeast or west for now until snow melts and hives can be moved to a location at least five miles away as a crow flies.
• Place entrance reducer on smallest entrance.

While hiving the colonies here's what we did:

• Remove three or four frames from the middle of the brood box.
• Slip off the clear plastic cover by lifting two tabs.
• Tap the bee bus to knock the cluster of bees to the bottom.
• Remove the feeder can to access the queen.
• Replace the feeder can and inspect the queen.
• Place the queen cage in your pocket to keep her warm.
• Open the side door of the Bee Bus slowly.
• Gently dump the bees in the middle of the brood box where frames have been removed.
• Tap the Bee Bus until all or nearly all bees have exited the box.
• Wait a few minutes for the bees to climb on existing frames.
• Slowly replace all frames in the brood box.
• Remove pink cap on queen cage to expose candy to workers.
• Tear off queen cage hanger and place in the bottom of queen cage diagonally to hang queen between middle frames.
• Cut a square piece of the bee bus about 2" by 2" then a slit in the middle of the square to slide the hanger into for a more secure queen cage holder. You don't want the queen to fall to the bottom of the box because she can die from cold.
• Place a chemical-free funnel into the inner feeder and fill to a half inch below the top.
• Place pollen patty on top of frames.
• Use hive tool to push all frames together tight, leaving and extra space to only one side of the brood box.
• Place inner cover on first, making sure the 1.5 inch wide upper entrance is facing the front of the hive.
• Place outer lid over inner lid making sure it is pulled all the way forward so bees can enter, exit and acquire oxygen from this upper entrance.

Subsequent days:

• Make sugar water only as you need it so it doesn't get moldy. 
• Top off room temperature sugar water ever three days for bare foundation or every five days for drawn-out comb. Do not let sugar water run dry for colonies with bare foundation. 
• Replace pollen patty if it is consumed or dries out.
• Enlarge entrance when temperatures are 50* or above and reduce entrance when temperatures are below 45*.

We hope to post photos and videos in the near future.