Ground-breaking News  in the world of Stingless-bee Beekeeping: Today was a good day to check on the bees.  Unfortunately my last transfer was not successful (bringing my success rate to a ridiculous 50%) and it was time to clean the dead hive and make some improvements for another transfer.

After cleaning and disinfecting the hive I added some improvements to deal with the cause(s) of this problem:  parasitic fly and too much space. Number One:  Seal the hive with beeswax.  No excuse for this really…it has been laziness on my part.

And Number Two:  Bypass the honey pot chamber for three to six months (maybe longer) until the bees have completely taken over the brood chamber using blocks of wood that fit together in such a way that they only leave a small passage through the honey chamber.

To commemorate this simple hive, I have called it the Gnome Mark III Stingless-bee Bee Hive. The previous UTOB Hive ended up having two established colonies (again), one in the honey chamber and one in the brood chamber.

This is what I transferred into the new GM III hive today.

The rest of the Honey, Pollen and Wax were harvested for a Munchkin with a sweet tooth!

May we all experience the joy of fresh stingless-bee honey! Cheers!!