Apiary Inspection - 11/13/2021

This inspection was to continue the bees preparation for winter. This includes insuring there is enough honey, pollen and brood (babies) to get through the winter. I also was giving the bees some medicated water.

Last, on the previous inspection, I realized that two of the colones were not as far along as I wanted. The resolution is to combine any colonies struggling into one. This is called “combining colonies”. I planned on combining two colonies.

HIVE INSPECTIONS

In April, we added two new colonies to the Columbia Center. During that time, I reconfigured where the hives were in hopes they would not be in the way of daily maintenance, and in an area where they would get protection from the elements. During the winter, the hives get hit with a lot of wind and rain, so finding a good place to minimize that was paramount. We (Urban Ren Group) and I decided that the East facing rooftop.

UNEXPECTED ISSUE - TOPPLED HIVE

Upon arriving on the roof, I was shocked to find that Hive #3 was toppled over. This is something that I have never had happen in the five years I’ve been doing the bee work at the Columbia Center. The hives are tethered to cinder blocks, and toppling is almost impossible without something else influencing the hive. What it looks like is that someone thought the hives were empty, and started to move them. I found two of the hives had the tie-down straps removed, which cannot happen without someone physically undoing the strap lock.

I truly do not think this was a malicious act, but rather is my speculation that it was an accident. Once they started to move the hive, the bees came out, causing it to be dropped. Going forward, I would just ask that if something like this happens again, that I (Woodland Bee Company) be notified to minimize the impact to the colony. These things definitely happen.

HIVE #1

This colony continues to be the strongest of all of colonies. I ended up giving them some sugar water with medicines in it specific for winter strength. I also moved some of the interior frames to maximize space inside.

NEXT: No further work inside the hive is needed. Add winter top and wrap hive

HIVE #2

This colony needed some interior work to compact the bees into a smaller space. I do this to ensure that the bees body heat will be maximized. The more compact, the easier it will be to maintain proper temps inside over the winter months.

HIVE #3 and #4

I fixed the issue with the toppled hive. Fortunately the bees inside were seemingly still alive so most of my work was trying to determine what damage might have been done.

The second step was to bring HIVE #4 over to HIVE #3 to combine them. I did this by employing a technique where a sheet of newspaper is placed between the two unique colonies. The bees will then slowly chew through the newspaper and get used to each others pheromones.

NEXT: Condense the hives down as small as possible. This again is done to fill up all the space in the hive and remove any unused space.