Two beekeepers inspect a Zest Hive and find the bees have rapidly filled newly added plastic frames with flawless, straight comb without any pre-waxing. The colony shows a healthy mix of drone and worker brood and stays calm throughout the inspection, suggesting the hive design may help manage varroa without chemicals.
Right, it is impossible to get the exposure right, so I will have to remain as a silhouette for today. Last time we were here, we checkerboarded the colony. They were horrible, they were angry. I've cleaned my gloves, I've got a new bee suit on, I've got a new hive tool that's nice and clean.
Gonna give them a good smoke. Hopefully they don't batter me as much, but they are a little bit wild, the ones in here.
Right, so let's get inside, see what they're looking like, see if they've even started on this checkerboard, and see what the temperament is like having taken into account all of the different changes I've made. Well, I have to say, I wasn't really expecting that, them just to go straight in and do completely wild comb and for it to be so seamless and flawless. All I did is I just put those in, didn't pre-wax them, didn't wire them, and the bees have just filled them up. So that is really, really good news. What an amazing start. That's literally amazing. I have to say, I am so, so impressed with how well they've drawn that out. It looks like I've put 2 sheets of foundation in there, like just perfect. They've kept that little gap underneath, like the straightest line you could ever imagine. But wow, that is going to be the easiest transition to get these over to these frames. I thought it was going to be really, really difficult, but the bees have taken to that and they have made my job so, so much easier. I can definitely do some more checkerboarding today, get some more plastic frames in there, and let the bees just do what they do best. Also really nice, they're not attacking me, so lovely flow, clean hive tool, clean gloves, clean suit.
That clearly was where the issue was.
So there's a really cool frame, lots of drone brood, lots of wild comb, lots of worker brood, nice big heavy healthy frame, and the bees are just doing what comes to them naturally.
So there's not much more I can do with this colony, and I'm just aware that I'm a complete shadow in the camera, so it's not going to be the best video. But really happy with how this colony is getting on.
I'm going to further progress that checkerboard, and then I'll probably come back here on like a cloudy day just to show you and give you a real good look inside that Zest hive. I'm very happy with it though. Is it going to be a hive that can completely manage varroa? Without any external treatments, because that is the claim that's being made here.
I'm not going to treat this one for varroa, and I'm going to see how they get on. I have to say though, Bill, I'm a little bit dubious with the claim. It's not something that I can see how it can possibly work. I understand the dynamics, I understand the moisture, what you said, but I like to see things in practice. So I'll run this colony, see how it goes on, and see whether the Zest Hive is actually something that can help to combat varroa. But I do have my doubts.
