Sunday, July 1, 2018

Bungees

So you decide to attach the box to the rope ladder with bungee cords.  Good idea.  Because you will have limited options when you are on top of the ladder, you wrap the bungee cords twice around the box, and then connect them to a carabiner, one on each side.

You start up the ladder, and realize that you have the box backwards.  The entrance is facing away from the hive entrance.  So you head back down the ladder, swap it end for end, and secure it tightly before beginning to climb again.

You haul the box up to the top of the ladder, and attach everything - very carefully - to the far side of the rope ladder, and then the near side of the rope ladder.  A few minor adjustments to get the box to hang vertically, and you are all set.

As you descend, you keep your fingers crossed, that the eggs and brood you left in the box will be attractive enough for the bees to come in, make a home, and start raising a queen.


....


A week later, and a few adjustments later, you are finally getting some bees in the box, but you are pretty sure that your eggs did not make it.  Eggs and young larvae need nurse bees to care for them, so they are not likely to have survived the heat without any care.

But when you check them, you are surprised to see that the brood has emerged.  They did not make any new queens, but there are new bees in the box that came from the brood cells.  And they are happily making honey in the box.

So you add two new frames of eggs and brood, and wait.  And hope.

And then....  click here.

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