KBS photo whats happening?

[flemage]

I was reading another thread on here which made me Google KBS, any way looking at their front page there is a photo at the bottom labelled ‘bees at front of hives’.

At the risk of a stoning for drawing attention to a commercial site, I am at a loss as to what has happened to the bees in this photo?

It looks like they have had an accident and a load of hives have fallen off a lorry?

However the guy in the picture seems happy and the hives are in a semi circle?

Perhaps they are running in 20+ swarms into hives? There are mounds of bees in front of hives and the roofs and crown boards are off and they are over flowing with bees?

I am at a loss, but it looks like fun?

 

[oliver90owner]

Hives organised for the photo, I would think.

He does winter (some of?) his hives in that semi-circle (in fact a whole circle with other colonies in the middle and a few dotted elsewhere).

They are often active, collecting water from the wet planks dotted around the site, even in the winter time. (planks etc have drip feed system which just leaves them damp for the bees.)

 

[mbc]

Just cleared the top boxes of bees with a blower in front of the hives, stacked boxes on trailor ready to harvest honey and loads of confused, tumbled bees making their way back into their hives ( is my guess )

 

[BBG]

They're all dumped in the middle like that and will find their way to each hive.

Is it to equalise the bees?

Was it due to new Queens?

Can I remember - No.

Have to wait for the OH to return tonight or tomorrow.

No, that's not what KBS is doing, just recollected.

What I'm thinking is it's where a rearing colony has been tipped in the centre of a circle of nuclei created from grafted Queen cells, the dumped colony is the rearing colony and of course has no Queen. After dumping at centre bees make their way to evenly populate the nuclei and all's well.

Pretty sure anyway.

Not what's happening at KBS.