Fourth hive established

I see the queen

At Maidi's suggestion, I started a fourth hive rather than putting the queen from the split back into the hive.  Last week I built a hive stand and determined where it would go. 

Trying out the new placement

I then cleared the area for the hive, put the stand in place, leveled it and then put the nuc on it so the bees could start getting oriented to their new locale. 

Hive stand leveled

Nuc on stand

I had ordered all the parts from Dadant & Sons and spent all day yesterday assembling and painting the boxes, screen bottom and frames. 

All the parts assembled and ready to be put together

Today I put the 5 frames from the nuc into the new hive.  I did spot the queen on the fifth frame.  I added 5 more frames to the box and put another deep box on top.  They don't need the room yet, but I figure it won't hurt.  The telescoping lid was back ordered, so I used an inner board and a piece of plywood to close the top.  I took the entrance feeder from inside Olea's hive and put it in the door.  The Vivaldi box has not yet arrived.  When it comes, I'll use the top feeder from one of the other hives.

Entrance feeder and bees unwilling to enter new hive

It took the bees about 20 minutes to start going into their new home even though the door was at the same spot that the door of the nuc had been, so there was a small cloud of bees in front of the hive.  Once some bees started going into the hive, they all quickly did so, thanks to the girls spreading the news at the entrance.

Nasonov fanning at entrance of newest hive

The new apiary has new names, also at Maidi's suggestion; 1,2 & 3.  Olea's is still Olea's.