2009 "Russian Bee" Colonies
The Warré hives are finished and a 3# package of Far-Eastern Stock Russian Bees will be installed in each hive.
Since multiple packages were being installed the breeder suggested I attach the queen cage to a top-bar in the top of the hive, shake out some of the bees in the hive then place the rest of the bees in the original package box in the bottom of the hive. He said this method would have less bees flying around the two hives which often causes one hive to be occupied by the bulk of the bees leaving the other hive weaker. With the narrower width of my Warré hives the package box was set on end in the bottom (third) hive box.
The sugar syrup can was removed from each package box and saved for later. One open 1 quart can of 1:1 sugar water mix with few wood chunks added to prevent the bees from drowning was placed in each hive.
This method worked very well. The next day when the package box was removed from the first hive it was totally empty, not even a single dead bee! The package box in the second hive still had about a fourth of the original amount of bees. Some of the bees were shook into the hive and the remainder placed on top of a bucket directly outside the hive entrance.
Within an hour all of the bees, except for about 100 dead, had entered the hive. The can of sugar syrup in each hive was completely empty, with only one drowned bee. The original package can of sugar syrup was placed in each hive.
The hive entranced was reduced for the first week to make it easier for the colony to keep out intruders.
The bees are very active and appear to be doing quite well.
After six days the queen cage was checked and found that the candy plug was gone and queen had been released. The bees were drawing comb in the top hive box.
The Russian bees seem to be very mild mannered, calm and nonaggressive.
CLICK TO SEE MY 2009 FAR-EASTERN STOCK "RUSSIAN BEE" COLONIES - PAGE TWO
CLICK TO SEE MY 2009 FAR-EASTERN STOCK "RUSSIAN BEE" COLONIES - PAGE THREE