Squirrel box (containing bees) sitting on hive box (empty).LA Backwards Beekeeper Roberta writes:
Earlier in the week I dropped off a squirrel box full of bees (from Elaine in Torrance) at Chris' place. We put the squirrel box on top of the hive box so that the bees could orientate to their new location.
After a few days Ceebs and I went over to do the quick evening cutout. We removed the top of the box and off came the tops of the combs along with it. There were a few combs and lots of bees.
Ceebs and Chris.We took out one comb at a time, shook the bees into the hive...
...and then put them into the frames. Easy.
The hard part was separating the bees from the squirrel bedding and nuts. We dumped everything from box onto a piece of cardboard and then let them walk right in. It took a little bit of coaxing but they figured it out.
These bees are going to love living up in the hills near Lincoln Heights.
Thanks also to Marcia of Coast and Canyon Rehabilitation and the squirrel box hosts for helping us save the bees. It takes a lot of planning to coordinate but it's worth it.
—roberta
