There’s this
little hive I have behind my house. They came on their own, moving into an
empty trap hive I had stored back there. But that was two years ago. I haven’t
done anything with them. I haven’t even peeked inside their box. I guess at
this point it makes them a survivor hive.
I just let them
be, coming and going as they maintain their little colony. It gives me
something to watch, especially the abundant activity in the morning as they
bring in pollen. The afternoon entertainment is the orientation flights of the
new field bees.
My house always
seems to be a magnet for swarms—mainly because I have empty equipment stored
around it. Before I know it, a swarm has arrived and moved into one of the
empty trap hives.
Sometimes I see
bees checking out the swarm traps a head of time. Other times I don’t notice anything
until the loud buzzing of the bees indicates a swarm is moving into one of the
boxes. Other times it is as if they have magically appeared overnight. One day
there is an empty box and then the next I see bees coming and going from the
entrance.
My wife saw
this one arrive. She was on the back patio washing clothes when the swarm
arrived. They moved right into the empty box with causing a problem. I came
home from school that day to the surprise.
Even though
I’ve never opened their box to peek inside, I know they have to be Africanized
bees. That’s what we have in Honduras. That’s what everything is. And that’s probably
the main reason I haven’t opened it. I don’t want to risk a neighbor getting stung
since I live right in the middle of town.
But they don’t
cause any problems. The colony can only grow so big because the box is small. A
couple puffs of smoke keeps them calm when it comes time to cut the grass in
front of them.
This means that
I have no idea what they’re doing inside of their box. All the comb could be
nice and straight or maybe it’s a curving mess. The trap hive is a rectangular-shaped
Tanzanian-style tbh. I use to manage several of these types of top bar hives
and I made some trap hives to catch swarms for filling them.
There are four
frames with wide top bars (I can see the nails that go into the side pieces.) On
either side of them is a normal top bar. This gives them a space equivalent to
six deep frames.
It’s not much
room. They’ve swarmed, at least once. There may have been other times that I
haven’t noticed. It keeps them small and less defensive. It should also keep
them with a young queen.
If I remember
right, this box has never caught bees for me when I’ve hung it up in a tree. I’ve
dumped a swarm into it several times but it never worked when I was actually
trying to bait a swarm into it. I specifically remember this trap because one
of its entrances is just a knot hole. It makes this box unique.
So you could
almost begin to call this a survivor hive after two years of zero manipulations.
But maybe it has to go at least another season yet. What makes a colony a survivor
can be debatable.
They always
have lots of activity around their entrance meaning they are probably healthy
and populous. This morning they were bringing in some pollen. Most was a pale
cream while others were yellow or even a bit gold in color. Definitely they are
surviving.
It will
eventually get moved. Not right now, however. We’re still in the dearth. It
will be less stressful once the flowers really begin blooming in force in
another month. If I decide to take them up to the coffee apiary in the
mountains, it’ll be Christmas time.
In the meantime,
I will just let them be, paying them an occasional morning or afternoon visit.
I sip a cup of coffee and watch them.
--Tom
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