[Kayla Stormont]

Hi Dennis, I’m located on the east edge of Beverly Hills. I have one person interested who will likely come and grab the stuff. If that falls through I’ll let you know!

[Kayla Stormont]

Got it! I did not know that about the empty box, thanks for sharing! I did not make it to the meeting last week unfortunately. I will get another deep box on there to give them some space and will see if that helps at all.

I do think that they may need to be moved in any case. As you say, the garden is probably not the ideal location for them in the long run. It was great for a while and the gardeners actively wanted bees in the garden, but we’re all learning the challenges that come with that. So I’m still looking for a place to re-home them and still manage them, taking all of this into account.

[Kayla Stormont]

Hi Susan,

Thanks for the response. I do have a 6 ft fence in front of their entrance and along the side of the hive that blocks them off from the path through the garden. The bees have one deep box that is full and a medium box that they have only just started to fill out, still lots of space there. No queen excluder so I don’t think the brood nest is too crowded but I wasn’t able to checkerboard when I added the medium box because they are deep/medium. I have been keeping logs of my inspections which I do every two weeks and have consistently seen eggs, open and capped brood (both drone and worker).

The biggest issue is that because of its proximity to people, I haven’t been able to do a complete inspection in about a month and a half because there are people walking by or wanting to come into the garden to work. I’d like to keep managing the hive and I want to address whatever the issue is, temperament or not, but I need some space so that I can be more thorough and not worry about passersby. I did reach out to Chip and he has been incredibly helpful! I’ve just come to a point where addressing the issue is difficult to do in the current setting so I’d like to move them to a place with less foot traffic so that I can really dig in and figure it out.

[Kayla Stormont]

I don’t have a mentor but do attend meetings and sessions as a way for me to ask questions and get hands on experience. The hive is in the Hollywood area. I’ve read Rob and Chelsea’s book, the Complete Idiot’s Guide, and much of Michael Bush’s website. I have done some reading on methods of feeding but wasn’t sure if this was the appropriate instance. It sounds like it is!

Should I consider trying to move them to a smaller hive? I could get an 8 frame deep box which would make it a little smaller.

Also re: ants, I don’t have an ant barrier but the hive is up a few feet off the ground on a crate. I’ll look into some ant control methods as well although I can’t do anything that involves putting the legs of the stand in something (unless I get a new stand).

[Kayla Stormont]

Hi Allison,

Give me a call if you still have any bees available! 808-989-0242

Thanks!
Kayla

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