How To Move a Beehive, Summer Radicchio, and Little Chicken Buddies

This has been a big week.  I slimmed down my apiary by selling 2 splits.  2 of my chickens went to live at Garden Dreams and I sold 3 more, and I came up with a delicious sauteed radicchio recipe.

14 week old Delaware and Silver Laced Wyandotte join the Garden Dreams' Flock.  They are sticking together.

How to Move a Beehive:

Day before, strap the hive tightly together with a rachet strap.  Close any top entrance, either by using a ventilated inner cover/moving screen, or positioning the outer cover so it blocks the top entrance in the inner cover before strapping down.

At night once all bees are in for the night, cover the entrance with window screen.  Staple into place, use duct tape or force in snugly in a V shape.

Move in early morning (or at night but only if you can clearly see what you are doing!)  Place the hives facing the cab of the truck, in the bed of a truck.  Do not move beehives inside of a car and do not move when temperatures are below 50 degrees, as the bees will try to cluster inside the hive and may get jostled out of the cluster by the bumping about! Secure the hives in the truck bed.  Drive carefully to the new location.

Once in the new location, leave them alone for a few hours to relax as they will be grumpy from the jostling drive.  Make sure they have ventilation with a screened bottom board/screened entrance.  When you are ready to remove the screen over entrance, do so and quickly stuff some grass in the hole.  Use a bit of smoke to back them off from the entrance before removing screen.  Don't force the grass in so tightly that the bees can't remove it with a bit of work.  Then, place a branch not blocking the entrance, but in front of it, so bees have to maneuver around it as they exit.  This will cause them to reorient.  They will likely do this anyways because of all the new landmarks.  

These steps have worked for me moving hives about 3.5 miles away and farther.  I have moved both at night and in the early morning. Moving closer than 3 miles may cause the bees to return to the old hive site.

Split strapped together with ratchet strap.

Once the bees have all returned for the evening, the bit of screen is used to cover the entrance.   

Sauted Radicchio:

Quarter the radicchio head and then halve or quarter those sections.  Leave the core intact to hold the sections together.  Toss with a olive oil, cider or red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, a bit of honey.  Saute in a covered pan, flipping the sections to get color on each side.  Yum.

Palla Rossa Radicchio

Ready for the saute pan