Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
colony used as a brood chamber and does not allow her to get into and lay eggs in the
area of your colony used to store surplus honey.
When the bees allow brood to be produced in honey frames it darkens the wax in
those frames, which darkens any honey stored there later. Plus, if there is brood in
frames in the surplus honey storage supers, nurse bees won't leave the brood when you
go to remove the honey with an escape board. Moreover, when examining the colony
to judge the quality of the queen you'll know where to look, reducing the number of
frames you will have to examine.
For reasons known only to the workers, sometimes they will not pass through the ex-
cluder, severely limiting the volume of the colony. The colony begins to think of itself
as crowded and may swarm or they may stop collecting nectar because they perceive
there is no place to store it. Sometimes it is said that queen excluders are instead honey
excluders.
Above is a variety of hive tools. Some are simply variations while others have a specific
purpose. Choose a tool that fits your hand well, because you will spend most of the time
you are working bees with a hive tool in your hand. (Note: The tool on the left with
the padded area has a solid grip, but it is weighty. The second tool from the left is for
cleaning between top bars. The third from the left is the Maxant-style hive tool.)
Hive Tool
Beekeeping supply catalogs offer several styles of hive tools. The most utilitarian is the
one that looks like a paint scraper with one end curved and the other end being broad,
flat, and sharpened, and the standard 10″ (25 cm) hive tool will provide the most lever-
age. Hive tools are inexpensive and, interestingly, easily lost. I recommend starting out
with two. Other styles are designed for specialized tasks in a beehive, and you'll see
their advantages when you've had some experience with the standard hive tool.
Tip:
Don't be Fooled
You will see tools that look like a regular hive tool in most hardware stores, but
there is a significant difference between these and the tools sold by beekeeping
supply companies. These hardware-store paint scrapers are not tempered and will
break when used to pry apart your supers or to remove frames. Hive tools are a
