I first became a “beekeeper” fifty years ago this year, and I wrote about it in an article that was published in Gleanings in Bee Culture, though as I recall it was one of my early instances of seeing something edited badly.
So yesterday I picked up a 5 frame (3/4 depth frames) nuc hive, a “nucleus” with an active young queen that will, hopefully, grow into a full-sized hive to go into the winter. The bees were active almost as soon as I opened the entrance, with colourful pollen being carted avidely.
Sophia and I transferred the frames into a 3/4 depth box, giving them another 5 frames of foundation that they can use to store surplus nectar and for the queen to be able to lay eggs to increase the bee population.
I used to say that beekeeping was a sort of “population management” exercise, trying to help the colony build up to a maximum strength when the maximum amount of nectar and pollen is available. In the time I’ve been away, another layer has been added to that: we will have to manage the varroa mite population, as well, and do it in such a way that it keeps the mite numbers down, but still allows for taking honey.
But for now, I’ll probably spend a lot of time watching the entrance. It’s been a long time…