Hey Stuart, is there another beekeeper nearby that will sell a frame of brood with some fertile eggs in to add to the bees so they can make a new queen. That box looks a bit light on as far as bees go. It could be queenless also. Ideally, if you could give it a frame of brood say, every 10 days, that will really boost the numbers plus give them a chance to make a new queen. I bought home the tiniest weak queenless colony yesterday. That’s what I’m going to be doing with that colony. I found a frame with a little bit of brood with 2 queen cells ready to hatch, I gave them that to get the ball rolling.
Beautiful pictures. Wow! We have no shortage of possums… I would never think of setting up a box for them…there was one my front porch cleaning up the catfood just a few days ago, and I bet I see five or six on the road everyday. I run over one about once a month.
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It depends on where you live too, where we are the trees are rapidly being removed & brushtails & ringtails are losing homes, (they then start looking for alternatives like rooves) they can be a pest but they still have a place in our environment. We also have Powerful owls, which most people are thrilled about, but remove the possums & the Owl loses its food source. Everything is linked.
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Thanks for posting this I am looking forward to a similar adventure in the next week. Will consider the newspaper idea as well as there are 2 branches across front of hive/possum box as footholds. I might get back to you once I am laying plans down to execute the operation if I need some advice/help?
Yeah you need to plug the whole really quickly. I lost a lot of bees because they swarmed out.
A big open sponge might be an even better idea. Or a couple of them.
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Hi Kirsten, you could lower the box down during the day, there’s no need to block the entrance. Sometimes I found those boxes can get quite heavy. What I did last time was secure the box with rope & tie it up good. Throw the rope over a higher up branch, then tie it somewhere within reach on the ground. Once you unfasten the box from the tree, the rope will support all the weight. All you need to do then is lower it down to the ground. Stand it upright & let the bees re-orientate to the new location.
Actually that would be a good time to do a transfer because most of the flying bees will be where the hive used to be & hopefully not chasing you. If you find the bees a bit cranky before you start the transfer, do that another day when you can move the box further away.
If you do a transfer further away, you’ll need to put the box you transferred the bees into back in the original spot.
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I have to say I find it disturbing that you ‘run over one about once a month’ & seem to think it’s ok? If it is in Australia they are a native animal & protected & whilst common in a lot of places they are a living creature & should be treated with respect.
That’s a great idea Jeff, thanks. I will take a couple of photos to show you, but will try & explain here for now, ther’s a lot of plant cover at the base of the tree, its not out in the open, but in the middle of other trees and shrubs etc. Will the bees still find it ok?
Your Possums in US are Opossums (Didelphimorphia) in Australia they are Diprotodontia
Hi, yes they will Kirsten, even if you can place something there to sit the box on. The bees are real clever at finding their new location as long as you don’t move it too far. Once you have it lowered, you can move it say, 1 meter a day till you have it in an area where you can work on it.
Great, I knew that you had to move them close by or either a long way away from original position. I’m so excited about setting the new hive up & being able to watch them in their new home! I think I’m going to ask someone from local Bee club to come & assist too & hopefully they can help me with checking colony over & spotting any issues there might be.
Another query, I have purchased a secondhand hive & have 2 supers, 1 of which has evidence of wax moth. The previous owner has said that they have been cleaned & irradiated, is this enough to ensure the beetle is no longer present?
Absolutely Kirsten, Wax moth is nothing to worry about. Just scrape it all out. The irradiation ensures you have no active AFB spores. The SHB wont be a problem with your new second-hand boxes. It’s how you manage the bees once you get them in the box that is important.
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As unfortunate as it is, roadkill happens. If you live where they are common it is pretty much impossible to avoid.
I doubt Michael is gunning for the possums, it’s just a fact.
Hi Kirsten, wow, that is up high, if you think you have a strong branch above the hive, that would be good to put a rope over. If you could tie the box nice & secure so that it hangs in the same position it’s sitting now, with a couple of days with little wind, you could lower it in 3 stages. One third the first day, another third the second day & down to where you want it to sit, the third day. That box looks fairly big, so it could be quite heavy. I know one time I underestimated the weight of a box, as soon as I unfastened it, it just crashed down to the ground. The bees got very upset:) So that was a lesson learned. Good luck with that, cheers:)
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Will you be relocating the hive to a new site or to a new hive on the gorund?
I have never run over one on purpose and I don’t think it’s “ok” but I have no control over them.
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A new hive on the ground. So that we can have some honey & the pleasure of watching them, they fascinate me. 
So stuffing the entrance and forcing them to reorient straight away would not be as good as moving it over several days?
My apologies. I didn’t intend to imply that at all. Your comment sounded so casual & I am perhaps a sensitive to the ‘problem’ of how we deal with these animals. Many people view them simply as pests or vermin & as such undeserving of humane treatment, we have had evidence over the past 6 months of really horrible methods of disposing of them.