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- DSCN2547
All the plates are out, Gary puts a piece of wood on top to fix the whole hive. - DSCN2546
There comes out the first one! - DSCN2545
Prof. Ayers uses a pair of pliers to grab the sheet of metal and then tries to put it off, hopefully without letting any bees out. Gary's job is to keep the boxes from come out with the metal plate. Because the metal plate is thin, bees would not be able to come out, normally. - DSCN2548
The observation hive all done. Notice there are now consmetic covers on two sides to make it look nicer. The whole process took about 8 min and not a single bee flew out! Pretty impressive. The time does not include moving the frames of bees from a hive into the hive segments of course. Done at 11:13:07 am. - DSCN2537
Then you can simply slides in the first box. - P6030005
Moving bees: (photo by Bartek Majewski) Step 1: seal the hole in the inner cover with screen in case workers come out there. For long distance travel (longer than 5 hour drive, during summer), you may want to replace the whole lid with a screen for better ventilation. Bees can overheat and die when excited during the move. - DSCN2543
Sliding in the fifth and the last one -- if you want to have 10 frames, you simply modify hte two end vertical bars so it is longer and can accommodate 10 frames... - P6030006
Moving bees: (photo by Bartek Majewski) Step 7: Upon arrival, open the screen to let bees free. Make sure you have a veil! Bees are usually angry after a ride. You would too if you just had a ride with 40,000 of your sisters in a dark, enclosed box :) - DSCN2208
Putting a 2 gallon syrup (50%) on top to stimulate the bees to build wax since this colony had 10 frames with foundations only. Then put an empty super on, and cover it up. All done! - DSCN2541
Removing rubber bands on the third frame. - DSCN2535
Gary and George taking segments of the observation hive from the cardboard box. - DSCN2542
The third one is in place. - P6030004
Moving bees: (photo by Bartek Majewski) Step 4: Use tie downs to tie each hive together Step 5: Load onto the truck Step 6: Also use tiedown to keep the hives from moving on the truck. - DSCN2205
Showing the correct way to grab a bee. If you brab both wings, a worker can never be able to sting you because her abdomen is not that flexible (some wasps can though). - P6030007
All done! The hive is now in business. If the move is >3 miles away, you do not lose any bees. If