Ron and his backyard stump, had a 5 week old swarm neatly nestled in under a ceramic pot. We wanted to harness the new colony, and their uniquely chosen spot, by giving the brood more room to grow and produce copious amounts of honey. Apis mellifera are so intent on either swarming or producing honey, to sustain their large and busily obsessive population, that we decided to build a custom bee box to neatly pop on top of the stumped swam.
Without knowing how large the population or how deep the hollow, we crossed our fingers and focused on minimal disruption and impact to the bees, brood mass and queen.
It was deep and the brood was established. Our mission went so smoothly and the colony was very calm, due to the established brood mass having attached itself to the stumps void securely. Ron's backyard beekeeping has begun, and his relationship with the Balgowlah bees will continue.
