Last week I noticed that there was no action happening from one of my remaining hives. I knew they had groceries in the top super (box) because I had quickly opened the hives to add pollen patties (gives the bees protein to help with raising new brood).
I popped the top quickly to see if they were playing possum, but this was not the case. The colony was no more. I was sad. This left me with 2 colonies out of 5 going into the winter.
Today being the nicer of the 2 days this weekend, I decided to move the NUC (nucleus colony) into a bigger hive (10 frame). After a phone call to my friend Jerry to make sure I wasn’t about to do something really dumb, I went ahead with the move. Went and got an inner cover that I had made, and a screened bottom board I had bought intending to use as a pattern.
Opened the hive that had been rained on inside the supers (not enough ventilation) and removed the top 2 supers. They had a fair amount of honey and pollen in them, so I had groceries to give the colony.
Assembled the new hive (bottom board and bottom super) next to the Nuc. Opened the Nuc and started moving frames into the new hive. Her Majesty the queen was busy laying eggs in the upper super, I greeted her with proper respect before putting her in her new home. Moved the remaining frames, and added the second super full of groceries on top, before buttoning everything up.
The brick is holding the entrance reducer in place. I don’t yet want this hive fully open because it will still get cold and they are next door to a very strong hive.