Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Drifting
When you have more than one colony, some bees from one colony will drift from
home to the other colony. If you have options on where colonies can go, which
way they face, and how close together they can be, you can probably reduce drift-
ing between colonies. Drifting is a problem when more bees drift one way than
back, weakening the donor colony. Diseases and pests can ride along, too.
To reduce drifting, face colonies that are close together in different directions,
with entrances at 90° or 180° to each other. Using boxes painted with different col-
ors gives the bees a clue of where to go, as does a landmark, such as a bush.
If you find that one colony is collecting a lot of drifters from a nearby colony,
you can exchange the position of the two, helping to balance the population of
both.
Pry up the inner cover with your hive tool.
Loosen the closest or next-closest frame first. Use the curved end of your hive tool for
leveraging and loosening frames.
Slowly lift the frame straight up, so you don't trap, roll, and kill bees between the comb
surfaces.
Pry up the inner cover with your hive tool, opening it a couple inches, and give an-
other half puff or so of smoke. If bees are flying out, give a couple puffs. Slowly remove
the inner cover and set it on the cover. Look down between the frames. What do you
see? Between the middle three or four frames will probably be lots of bees and some
comb built up. Perhaps nothing has been done in this box yet, if the package is still
young. If there is nothing, lift up a corner of the box and puff two or three times, then
slowly remove that box and put it on the inner cover.
