Large Marge has now officially joined the Round Rock Honey empire. Last night, Konrad and Lance came out to Baab-Brock farms after sunset to get the hive all trussed up and ready for transport to a remote location where they can split and requeen the hive safely.
The first step was to give the hive a big blast of smoke to get all the bees hanging out at the entrance back inside. We then immediately taped up the front entrance to prevent any of the girls from deciding they weren’t going out without a fight.
We then applied a wrapping of tape along the seam of each super to prevent them from slipping while the hive was being moved. We started at the bottom and worked our way up until the bees decided to get smart and come out through the top inner cover. We had to quickly tape up around the telescoping outer cover and then we were good.
After all the supers were taped up, we then wrapped the hive in 4 straps to keep it securely together when we picked it up.
After that, we felt we were in no immediate danger from the hive. I’d also like to thank Knives for being chill during the whole procedure even though we were stomping around her hive as well.
Then it was just a matter of the three of us picking up the hive and making our way through the backyard and up to the truck. A six super hive is heavy, and it took all three of us lifting to make it work.
Here’s a final shot of me with Large Marge. I learned a lot about beekeeping with this hive, and it definitely makes me a little sad to see her go. I feel good though knowing she’ll be part of an excellent beekeeping operation
Urban Beekeeping in Austin, Texas 
Thanks for giving the opportunity. I’ll take very good care of Marge!
Wow! Thanks for the educating story with pix. You’ve expanded my understanding. I love the bees. They were flying all around my pear tree.
That is one great looking hive – any hive with 6 supers is impressive, and no wonder it took 3 of you to lift it on to the truck! I’m in the UK so my bees are just starting to get active, we’re a little behind you. I’m looking forward to getting the hives opened – a very exciting time of year for anyone with bees!