I just can not give eduction method a rest, so, I am at it again using one of the stingless bee colonies at CVSU. I am not doing it step-by-step. I immediately connected an eduction hive to the main hive. I am hoping the stingless bees are as intelligent as the cerana bees in finding their way out and then back again, though I think it would be much of a challenge for them considering their size. They have a long way to walk to reach the exit.
I was able to take a small piece of brood from the main hive and put it in the eduction hive. This is suppose to speed up the process. Now I think I know why, or at least I know one reason. If new bees are to emerge from the piece of brood I put, then, those bees will consider the eduction hive their real home and they will start working on it. I don't think they will be going to the main hive. There should be at least a hundred bees in that piece of brood.
It is actually Day 2 of the experiment, and I still have to see a clear indication that the bees are able to make their way back to the main hive. The photo was taken this morning and there was very little activity going on. Hopefully, this coming friday, I will be able to observe the bees the whole day so I can track the movement of some pollen carriers.
I put plastic sheets on top of the hives so now I can watch the bees without them flying out. Here are some photos I took.
this is the eduction hive...
and these are photos of the main hive...
the brood...
pool of honey (upper right corner)
bees filling the honey pots (center)
a close-up of a stingless bee (Tetragonula biroi)... this guy is a little bit smaller than your regular house fly...
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