Evidence that a colony is alive

There are at least 4 ways of telling if a colony is alive without opening up the hive:

1. Evidence of cleansing flights on cars or washing

2. Wax crumbs under the hive (need open mesh floor)

3. Dead bees in front of entrance, bees doing housekeeping and throwing out the dead

4. Bees flying

These photos were all shot today in the apiary with a temperature of 8°C.

: wax cappings under hive

: dead bees in front of hive

: evidence of cleansing flight

: winter bee returning to hive

This entry was posted on February 18, 2014 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Evidence that a colony is alive”

John Everett Says:
February 18, 2014 at 7:06 pm | Reply
Hi I have been teaching Mod 8 and your notes are brilliant – really amazingly useful In the bit about Miller – Miller feeder there is reference to an Ashcroft feeder – is this a typo for Ashforth? Only trying to be helpful The module work is amazing John Everett

Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 17:19:02 +0000 To: everettapplebee@hotmail.co.uk
- seanbees Says:
  February 18, 2014 at 7:14 pm | Reply
  Thank you for your kind words.
  
  Yes it is a typo, I will update the document.
  
  Regards
  
  Sean
  
  Mid Bucks Beekeepers Associati
Emma Sarah Tennant Says:
March 5, 2014 at 2:31 pm | Reply
What a great post, thanks for sharing.

Mid Bucks Beekeepers Association Blog