Outdoor Dunny

The bees set up this hive in the outdoor toilet which made it very hard for the owner to use. They had two options, relocate the hive or take a spade and dig a hole.

The bees had packed themselves in tight and then found a way into the next cavity. They were having fun although the comb was crooked which made it harder for us.

The bees had made the comb sheets much thicker than normal this made framing it up more difficult and meant we were only able to fit seven frames in each box rather than our normal eight.

Framing up comb is a bit like completing a moving jigsaw puzzle. We want the comb to sit vertaically the same way it came out of the hive so honey doesn't leak out of the cells. We also want to minimise gaps because gaps can create problems due to the bees building new comb in the hive where we do not want it.

Finding the queen in this hive was very easy. She walked off a piece of comb we were framing up and took a group of bees with her. As they were all walking across the table we swept them up and put them in the new hive. Job almost complete.

When we returned to collect this hive after almost two weeks it was a very hot night so there were still bees outside the hive. A gentle spray of misty pure water sent the bees running into the hive and we were able to close it up.