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By Root 641 0

smallest notch to allow the bees only a tiny hole to enter and exit. The smaller entrance will keep cold winds from blowing directly into the hive, keep out small creatures looking for a warm place to rest, and provide a smaller area for the guard bees to work. You also may opt to attach a mouse guard to the entrance. A mouse guard is a flat metal bar with holes that are large enough for only bees to crawl through. These are made specifically to keep out mice, and come spring you may be happy you used one. Mice who spend the winter inside your hive can destroy the honeycomb and eat up all the stored honey. The mouse guard can be removed again in the spring as hive population grows. If you use one during the winter, you do not need an entrance reducer. When spring arrives, you remove your mouse guard and use the entrance reducer again.

Autumn is also the time to evaluate your queen. If she is not still laying eggs into the fall to build up the colony for a long winter, it may be time to replace her to ensure your colony will be stronger and healthier the following spring. Many beekeepers routinely replace their queens each fall. If you decide to replace your queen, you first have to remove your original queen.

If you are unable to acquire a new queen, it is advisable to unite two colonies. Use the following technique: First remove the inner and outer covers of the first hive, exposing the top of the frames. Place a sheet of newspaper on top of the frames and poke a few holes in the paper. Remove the bottom board from the second hive and place it on top of the first hive. Cover the second hive with the inner cover and outer cover, making one big hive. The honeybees will gradually tear through the newspaper and unite to become one large family. As for the queens, the bees themselves will decide which of the hives’ two queens will be their leader. The queens will fight it out between themselves, and the younger or stronger of the two will be crowned victorious.

REQUEENING MY HIVE

One day during the late summer of my second year of beekeeping, I was inspecting my hive as usual. By this time, I felt the confidence to undertake the chores like a seasoned beekeeper. Already I had attended many bee club meetings and received abundant support from other members. My hive had successfully overwintered its first year, and by the time spring came around, everything seemed status quo in my beeyard. But during this particular inspection, I was surprised to find a diminished number of bees in the hive and no eggs to speak of. I searched further and discovered there was no sign of the queen.

I contacted Mr. B immediately. He responded that my queen had likely died or was lost and that it would take some time before the colony would realize their queen was missing. For a while, workers would continue to fan the last of her pheromones around the hive, and the colony would carry on as usual. But once the colony realized their queen was missing, things inside the hive would change. His advice was to wait and check again tomorrow. If the queen did not appear, I would have to get a replacement queen.

The next day, with great anticipation, I opened up the hive. Still no eggs, still no queen. I began to panic and contacted Mr. B again. He gave me the name of another local beekeeper who could provide me with a new queen. Good old Eddie lived a couple of towns over. He was an elderly gentleman who had been keeping bees since what seemed like the beginning of time. He sold bees and equipment, and he also raised queens. When I called him up, Eddie told me yes, he did have queens for sale and that I could come at 3 p.m., when his shop opened. I told him that my queen was lost and that I was desperate for a new one. I said it had been two days, maybe more, since I’d seen eggs. He assured me a colony could survive a week without its queen, so mine would certainly survive until three o’clock that day.

As I waited, I consulted my beekeeping books about requeening. I read that if a hive is left queenless, a female worker will eventually take over the