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Robbed the bees

June 8th, 2014

I took the whole honey super off of the first hive. This hive has better sun than any other hive and I am starting to think that sun is a big deal with bees. I nearly broke my back carrying it to the deck where I will spin the frames so Erica can bottle it. It weighed about 40 pounds, I think.

Look forward to honey late in the week.

I bought “bitter almond oil” which is used to flavor candy and smells just like almond croissants. The bees hate it so I put some on a “fume board” (a board covered with a towel and raise so it does not touch the frames). The bees leave the top of the hive and soon the the super is bee-less. I just lifted up the super, brushed off the stragglers, and then brought it back. Much easier than using the leaf blower.

I then split the hive. It has been very full of bees and has been acting like it will swarm. I put a half hive next to it and put the top box from the original hive on top of this hive body full of old frames. I then pulled some frames from the edges of this box and pushed the frames apart so there was a two frame gap in the middle. I pulled a frame of bees from the middle of the original bottom box and put it in the gap. I then kept pulling frames until I found one full of brood. I put that in the other open slot on the new hive. The bees will take a few of the newly laid brood and make queens. I put the two edge frames I took out in the spaces where I removed the two frames.

I now have two hives where I had one before. This is called a “walk-away” split and is the easiest way to increase your hives. It works about half of the time. Of the four I’ve done, three worked.