Hello,
In preparation for the Spring harvest I researched and decided I liked the Abandonment method best for clearing honey supers. I just got done going through my hives and pulled 4 boxes off of 3 hives. I set the boxes on the ground next to the hive it used to be on. Now I'm inside watching the Sun set and I'm starting to worry.
I don't have a fence around my beehives. I did break a small section of honeycomb exposing honey so I could remove that frame to make sure it was capped. I'm worried all the various wild animals that traipse through my apiary at night will find these boxes and destroy them to eat the honey. I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and some skunk or raccoon or something will have knocked over every box and clawed everything up eating honey. Or worse, attract a bear. I've got these boxes turned on end so the bees will evacuate and return to their hive. All that honey is exposed to the whole woods unprotected. What should I do?
Put them in the shed after dark? Wait till the morning and stop worrying?
In preparation for the Spring harvest I researched and decided I liked the Abandonment method best for clearing honey supers. I just got done going through my hives and pulled 4 boxes off of 3 hives. I set the boxes on the ground next to the hive it used to be on. Now I'm inside watching the Sun set and I'm starting to worry.
I don't have a fence around my beehives. I did break a small section of honeycomb exposing honey so I could remove that frame to make sure it was capped. I'm worried all the various wild animals that traipse through my apiary at night will find these boxes and destroy them to eat the honey. I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and some skunk or raccoon or something will have knocked over every box and clawed everything up eating honey. Or worse, attract a bear. I've got these boxes turned on end so the bees will evacuate and return to their hive. All that honey is exposed to the whole woods unprotected. What should I do?
Put them in the shed after dark? Wait till the morning and stop worrying?