Here, John and Philippe demonstrate how to open a bee hive and check that the girls are doing OK.
First thing you do is get out the smoker.
Then, you lift off the top:
Now you prop open the other top a little with your hive tool:
The bees may have tried to seal it, so you have to break it open:
They might get agitated, so give them some more smoke:
Now you can take the other top off:
Now you can use your hive tool to pull the frames out:
John says they look very healthy!
Now they are demonstrating the frame lifter:
Now they are showing me some other action on the hive.
I can’t remember exactly why I would do this, but I have an email in to John and Philippe to ask them.
After that, you have one of two choices. You either slam the lid of the beehive down onto the ground so all the bees scatter and you don’t squish them when you close the hive back — OR, if you have two lids, you can put one of the lids back on and let the bees find their way back to the hive.
