New beekeeper in the Camberwell area and thought I’d introduce myself
Nuc was successt transferred into the Flow brood box yesterday, with all appearing well - even spotted the Queen !
After moving the nuc off to the side to set up the Flow hive in its place, all of the returning bees were just hovering in the air where the nuc was moved from… so I felt very pressured to get the new hive set up asap LOL. Now I see why they say to try not to move hives due to the bees getting disorientated, but I thought they would just return to the nuc hive which was merely 60cm away.
Regarding the adjustable leg stand, is it fine to adjust this during the day whilst all the bees are zooming in and out (this was attempted, but I feel like I was just disrupting the bees)? Should they be smoked if this is the case? Or should this be done at night after all the bees have returned and the entrance can be shut?
The entrance reducer also appears to have been pushed out by the bees. Once the bees are all home and it’s getting dark, should I push back the reducer so it sits flush and screw it tighter this time round? I just don’t want to squish the bees adjusting it in the day time with all of them crawling out.
Hi AC. Welcome to the forum. As long as you don’t stand directly in their flight path you can do it during the day. Best early to late morning as new bees will doing all their orientation flights after midday so there is a lot of activity close to the hive.
Just be slow and gentle so as to notice suddenly bump the hive.
With regards to the entrance reducer probably best to suit up as a new comer and just release it completely and then slowly slide it down from above and the bees will slowly move out of the way then secure firmly.
Down the track I would advise you to make the base a little wider as the hive can move when removing the super for inspections and the brood box could topple.
Good luck.
Welcome @acbee! Great to see you’re getting into the bee game. I just started myself too.
Re: adjusting the legs, I did this carefully one leg at a time and they didn’t seem bothered. I hadn’t smoked them or worn anything other than a veiled hat. Depends on your bees I guess!
Re: the entrance reducer, you need to tighten up the screws until they are almost pressing against the timber. This way the reducer stays flush with the hive. Don’t bee (haha) too worried about the bees… just slowly move the reducer and push them out of the way. I had the same issue.
!
