Checking the Italian Queen and Hiving the Carniolan Colonies

After I learned that I'd lost a hive, I phoned Jones Bee and was pleased to learn that they had another shipment of Carniolan honeybees due to arrive. I placed orders for two more colonies. Pick-up day was threatening snow showers. I asked about hiving the new bees and was shown what strikes me as a superior hiving method.

Like the Italian colony, I removed the queen, replaced her cork with a mini marshmallow, and placed her between the 5th and 6th frames of the base hive body. Rather than just pouring the bees over the frames, I added a second empty hive body, inverted the shipping container onto the frames of the lower hive body, and placed the shipping feeder on the frames at the end opposite from the queen's cage. I then closed the hive with both an inner cover and a telescoping cover. After I added a jar of 1:1 sugar syrup to each of the Boardman feeders on the new hives, I was done. Easy peasy. And, significantly fewer bees outraged by my manhandling.

While I was suited up, I quickly checked the Italian hive to make certain that the bees had released the queen from her cage. I pulled the empty cage, but otherwise left the Italians alone.

Photos

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Selected References:
Sammataro, Diana and Avitabile, Alphonse. The Beekeeper's Handbook, Third Edition. Cornell: Cornell University Press, 2006.