Bees like sun. And small hive beetles don’t. So my hives are moving to those concrete pads you see in the pic which will be in the sun all winter. This sunny location will limit the ability of small hive beetles to thrive. That I need to control pests in my hives is one of the many things I have learned since the bees arrived on May 29.
“So, John, just move them,” you might suggest. Except that you can only move hives less than 6 feet at a time or the bees cannot find their way back to the hive. Since I have 2 hives that are close together that both need to move, and mostly because I do not know any better, I am moving them about 12-18 inches per move. And since I only get into the hives every weekend, this move is taking a while. Had I only known about this small-hive-beetle-thing on May 29…
Of course, the bees needed to get to me, and that is a move longer than 6 feet, right? Move the bees more that 3 miles – their foraging range – and they realize they are somewhere new and re-orient themselves to their new location. Amazing.
Thank you to Bridget who designed my logo in homage to my new hobby. And so on this 4th post, my blogs have been about me in the 70’s, my kids in the 90’s, my parents in the 50’s, and these bees from yesterday. I am sure I will get into some sort of coherent groove at some point.