Top bar hive – treatment free bees

Description

This colony in a top bar hive is thriving despite having had no Varroa treatment for 2+ seasons. They have nearly filled the hive, so we are splitting them by inserting a follower between two pairs of entrance holes. The side nearest the camera has sealed queen cells, while the laying queen is in the far side. One the new queen has emerged, mated and begun to lay, we can either re-combine them and remove the old queen, or place them in an empty hive.

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