I think these are the survivors from the robbed hive. The queen is from Don Kuchenmeister and the bees are tough little small cell bees who should be able to make it.
Quick like a rabbit, I put the nuc up on bricks, gave it an inner cover and a top cover and added an empty nuc as a surround with a Boardman feeder full of honey in it. I replaced the empty frames with drawn frames from what I think was their original hive, the robbed out one.
I also put two frames in the upper nuc with the Boardman (with a pint jar of honey) in between. I think I should put those two frames side by side and will when I go back to it.
I didn't look for the queen, but the bees acted like a small swarm does. I'll check for a queen in a couple of days. Bees were orienting and flying in and out.
I reduced the entrance so that they would be safe while I'm off to the mountains to the Asheville conference. I hope they'll make it. I'm inclined to consider keeping them in the nuc for the winter if they can manage to get a hive going.
So cool :) What wonderful creatures they are.
ReplyDeleteI'm Cally, from New Zealand, and a very small time hobbyist (3 hives)and I have been enjoying following your blog for ages: thank you for sharing your bee-world with the world :)
That is so great Linda! I hope they stick around and become a successful hive for you.
ReplyDeleteMe too. If I feel brave tomorrow morning I have some time to go into the nuc and visit the queen and see if she is functioning or if she were injured in the robbery.
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy to hear this! thanks for keeping us updated.
ReplyDeleteApiarists have so much hope!
ReplyDeleteToo much hope in this case. When I returned from the mountains, the bees in the nuc had eaten half of the jar of honey I left them and were gone. I guess they tanked up and headed for a better place. There was still a handful of bees in the hive - about 30 - I imagine they were foragers out when the group left for parts unknown.
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