Valerie called when she got home from work today and said, "Mom, are you sitting down?" My heart sank as I thought she was about to tell me that the bees were not in the hive. Instead she said they were flying in and out and seemed to be living there.
When your house is on the market, the real estate agent is often telling the seller what he/she needs to do to make the property more appealing. Maybe what I did yesterday made the top bar into more appealing real estate, knock on wood.
1. I closed up the bottom board
2. I gave them comb tied onto the top bars (My friend Julia who has also built a top bar hive has hung some of her top bars in her Langstroth hive box to get the bees to draw some comb on it.....this seems like the best solution).
3. I reduced the entrance by closing off the side entrance and using a queen excluder over the top bars at the end of the hive where the bees were located.
If they stay, I want to make one other improvement - to use bungee cords to hold the top on rather than bricks.
Cross your fingers with me - maybe the bees are here to stay.
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Glad they decided to stay. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteLinda - three great ideas to make it more of a home for them. I wish I would have thought of that a week ago. Both of my packages left as a result of my hive not being attracitve enough to the queen. When she came out of her cage...she said see ya! Good luck! I like the feeder bag too, my bowl idea was a flop.
ReplyDeletefingers and toes - all crossed! Good luck.
ReplyDelete