# Aloha! New beekeeper in Maui.



## cloudline (Nov 25, 2012)

Aloha all,
Any advice for caring for a captured colony? I procured my first colony from a friend's sprinkler irrigation box. After 6 weeks and three hive exams, I've finally found good evidence that I have a queen (larva, capped brood and eggs at the bottom and center of cells). I originally hung several chunks of their comb onto empty frames and included a few standard frames. The colony size is small,only 1-2,000. They haven't really made new comb onto blank frames, just utilizing existing comb. I have a screen-floor/small hive beetle trap that is effective but seems to collect a lot of propolis in the oil trap. Should I do anything else right now to support this hive? Winters get cool at our 4,000 ft elev., but never less than say 45F at night and up to 70F during the day. 
Thanks!


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## taydeko (Jan 3, 2012)

Do you have nectar flowing now? How much food do they have? You might need to feed them. I don't know anything about Maui bees, but my bees didn't build much comb when it started getting cooler.

Ted


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome CL! That is very small for European bees.


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## cloudline (Nov 25, 2012)

taydeko said:


> Do you have nectar flowing now? How much food do they have? You might need to feed them. I don't know anything about Maui bees, but my bees didn't build much comb when it started getting cooler.
> 
> Ted


I'm told the eucalyptus trees here provide flow in winter, in addition, pretty much everything seems to be constantly flowering. That being said, I am sure the hive is stressed with the move and loss of more than half of the colony during collection. I have let them have a few tablespoons of honey (local product) as they seem to go nuts for it. I was wondering if I needed to put a solid non screened floor under them so they wouldn't lose so much propolis?


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## taydeko (Jan 3, 2012)

I am getting waaaay out of my depth here. My experience with screened bottom boards is that they tend to abscond easier. They normally won't leave brood, so I don't think that is an issue for you. People in the Northeast leave screens on through the winter, so.... I wouldn't worry too much about them loosing propolis. They may be trying to close up the screen. 

How are you feeding them honey? Inside the hive? Outside? Because this is such a weak hive, you have to watch carefully for robbing. I won't feed my bees any honey that I didn't get from one of my hives. Too much chance of diseases coming into the hive, and you don't know what kinds of chemicals are in the honey. I am letting my bees clean up wax here on nice days because the honey in there is from my hives. Otherwise I feed sugar syrup if I have to, and dry sugar in the winter.

It sounds like you have done what you can for the bees. I wonder if anyone else has any ideas? Have you talked to local beekeepers?


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## cloudline (Nov 25, 2012)

Thanks for the info! I'll pretty much let them be. BTW I was glad I bought the hive with the screened bottom board because I caught a lot of small hive beetle at first. To answer your questions, the honey comes from the apiary of a nice guy here who taught my beekeeping class. I put the honey over abandoned comb near but outside the hive. I noticed one day that when I left a breakfast plate outside that had some honey left on it that the bees really took it over. I tried sugar syrup but they weren't interested! All the best!


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