08/05/2026
From the apiary.
Lots to say on this one today.
First off, yes that is a working full growing nuc JJ is standing beside. I obviously can't check this one.
We don't normally let them get this tall and would have split it but we don't need any more splits and we didn't have a queen we wanted to use to do that, so, here we are.
For those of you non beekeepers who aren't sure what you are looking at this is the size hive that we start new colonies out in that are small and need to grow. They are technically called a nucleus or nuc for short. These are five frame boxes and while we have honey supers we could use for it as well we are holding off simply because they are not going to be collecting enough honey or we may need to feed them due to summer drought season.
If I ever had to manage our apiary by myself I would only use 4 frame, 5 frame or 8 frame hives. Mush less weight and they seem to grow quicker. Thank goodness JJ handles the tall hives and the heavy boxes!
The second photo is proof that maintenance is never ending. The top unpainted box is brand new this year, the bottom green box was from several years ago. Wear, tear, weather and bees create a slow erosion and from the beginning of a season to the end we have to sort through equipment continuously. It's a fine balance financially to make sure things are in good working condition but also that we aren't spending more money than needed by tossing out battered but working equipment. Needless to say the green box is going on the burn pile next.
The bees above the broken box were actually part of a larger bearding group earlier and were gradually going back in the hive.
The last photo is my favorite. I wish I had a video and not just a photo however this is how we like our hives. They were alert and low key. Just watching us and being calm and quiet. Day to day depending on weather and environment the attitude can change but when they are happy we are even more happy. We were only in them for a brief visual check and they were content to keep working around our presence.
