Bee Tree Gets a New Second Story

First I put the hive box on so that it slanted side to side. This seemed like a problem. I called Wally (Iddee on Beemaster and Beesource) and asked him what to do.

He responded that the hive box in your own bee yard would normally be slanted back to front, but side to side was a problem. You can imagine - the bees would draw comb up and down as per gravity, but up and down would not be in the frames - a big future mess, assuming they move up.

Then I realized (DUH) that all I had to do was turn the box and then it would slant front to back, making the back lower than the front by about 3/4 inch. Easy to do that so I immediately turned the box, problem solved!



I laid the bag of 2:1 syrup that I had brought with me on top of the frames and slit it with my knife.



Then I put an empty hive box around the baggie, put the bottom board on for a top and left it with lots of hope that the bees will move up.



Here it is in its final resting place. I'll check back on Saturday to see if the bees are eating the syrup. I wonder if I should prop the top to allow them to continue to use the top "entrance." Seems like that would encourage them to move up into the box as well.

I'll ask about that on Beemaster and then let you all know what I will do about that.

Looking at this picture, I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't bring a newly painted box for the surround for the sugar syrup. Maybe I'll replace it so it can look pretty in this public location.