Absconding Bees

For a variety if reasons I tried a new type hive year, they're generally called Top Bar hives, with some specific styles named after the builder or location. They've become quite popular, probably for the same reasons I wanted to try them, ease of working, DIY building at low cost, and hopefully reduced risk of ant invasion.

So the new hives were assembled and the bees installed last weekend, Italians in four frame nucs. The first nuc was not very impressive, and seemed less than likely to succeed. The second was much more vigorous.

This morning I went to inspect the hives and found the girls of the second nuc clustered on a nearby shrub. They're back in the box, the queen confirmed. I broke all the rules and put some honey in with them, hopefully they'll decide it's not all that bad a place and stay. Probably not. The lazy girls of the first nuc seemed quite at home, go figure.

The old hives are meaner than sin and laying up tons of honey, so overall the first inspection went well. Cross yet fingers for the Girls of the Second Nuc!