How to move frames over into your hive body.

Congratulations! You have your honeybee nuc! Now what?

You’ll want to watch the video we’ve created demonstrating how to move frames from the EZ Jester box into your hive body. Here is a detail of the steps written out …

The First Night: Transportation and Placement

Be gentle while moving the bees. They don’t like being moved around roughly or having their box slide and bounce off the sides of a pickup truck. Be sure the box won’t slide while your transport. Try to keep it as level as possible. Place your jester box very close beside your bee box where you plan to keep the bees. You are welcome to open the Jester entrance tonight or in the morning (preferably before dawn).
You’ll be driving the bees to your home at night. Wait until daylight to move them from your jester box into your real hive box. It’s good to put the bees into your own box during sunlight. Don’t move them if it’s pouring down rain but you can move them in a very light drizzle.

The First Morning (or Early Afternoon):  Moving the Frames

First, prepare your real hive box by removing 5 frames in the center. The nuc will fit here. To move the bees into your own box give 2 puffs of smoke by the air vents of Jester box. Give it about 5 seconds then gently remove the top. Use your hive tool to gently move an outside frame apart from others. Grab the frame by both ends and lift it straight up so it doesn’t rub against the other hives and smash bees. Gently place it into your own hive in the center position. Keep the frames in the same order they were in the Jester box. Gently move each of the frames into place.

The bees like to fill a box proceeding out from the center frame. This is why we like to place the colony in the center. Be sure you put in the other frames so you have the necessary frames inside, usually 8-10 frame. Put the lid on your box.

Double Check: Is the Entrance Open?

Be sure the entrance of your hive deep box is open. We like to monitor the entrance and keep its size smaller, about half, when the hive is smaller. This makes it easier for the bees to defend their gate. As the bees become strong you will be able to keep the entrance fully open.