Two weeks ago I was offered another very small colony of bees. I drove over and picked them up. Usually I’m a person who asks lots of questions, but for some reason, I didn’t on this day. I guess I was just so eager to get a colony of bees. I forgot to ask him if there was a queen in this colony, how long he had had and observed them, etc.
I brought them home in their small box. The next evening I put the 1 and 1/2 frames of bees – so little! – into a deep super with some old honeycomb – still containing traces of honey. The next day there were bees buzzing all around the hive and my house! Robbers!
Live and learn – I learned that this is the wrong time of year to try to introduce a new colony – especially a very small weak one!