It seems the stingless have build small chambers in between the box hive and the plastic sack that was used to contain the bees during transport. They have already glued the sack to the hive so I was unable to remove the sack completely. I just cut off whatever portion I can. My hive may have seen more than 1 season already and has not yet been split. If that is the case, the bees may be running out of space, box hive must be full already and my bees are trying to expand their hive outside the box.
I tried to peel of the sack at the bottom portion and bees emerged from the crack.
This is where the visitor bee tried to enter but met some resistance.
This is on the the rear, upper left side of the hive. The bees seem busy building a rather large chamber.
Instead of splitting the hive in 2 and be left with 2 half-strength colonies, I will try an experiment which have been successfully done by some stingless beekeepers. It is called "natural hive duplication" or the "Eduction Method" as proposed by John Klumpp of Brisbane.
The technique basically involves persuading the existing colony to build a new hive in an adjoining empty hive. This is a rather bee friendly method as it does not involve me, litterally splitting the hive in 2 and risk destroying or damaging the existing hive by exposing the hive to the elements. The bees worked very hard building their hive sealing it from the outside world, and I want to keep it that way. Whether the technique succeed or fail, I will still be left with a strong hive.
The technique will be discussed on my next blog.
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