After I stain my bee hive, how long should I wait before I put bees in it? I only stained the outside and left the inside natural. It has an odor to it and I dont want to scare my bees off, but here in the Pacific Northwest, you have to seal EVERYTHING or it will not last.
Can anyone please tell me how long i should wait before i put my bees in a hive after I stained it?
Hi Jen, if you are going to install a nucleus colony, that comes with lots of brood, I think you’d be safe to install the bees straight away.
I’ve never installed packages, however many swarms. Whenever I install/catch/house a swarm, I always include a frame of mostly open brood, which in most cases prevents the colony from absconding.
With a package of bees, we must be aware that we’re trying to get those bees to like the hive that we’re putting them into. Anything we can do to make the hive feel like “home” to a colony of bees will be good.
My #1 choice would be frames of open brood. Then there’s a drop or two (maximum) of lemongrass oil smeared at the entrance & inside the hive. I’ve only read about a product, which I think is called “Swarm Commander”, which you could use instead of lemongrass oil.
With this type of preparation, you could probably install a package straight away.
I would say that depends on what you stained it with. With tung oil, you can put the bees in after a day or two, because it is non-toxic. It is sticky though, so I would wait for the landing board to dry, so that the stickiness doesn’t cause problems for the bees.
If you used an oil-based sealant with a chemical odor, I would leave it for at least a week. Longer would be better. Bees are very sensitive to odors, and they often don’t like non-natural chemical smells.
Thank you all so much for the information!!!
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