Welcome back to the Bee Sanctuary! Today’s mission took us to a property in Johannesburg to tackle a common Highveld beekeeping challenge: the fabricated water feature. A colony had moved inside a hollow, fiberglass “fake rock,” and they had clearly been there for a while.

The Evidence: Queen Cells and Swarming

As we opened the feature and began removing the comb, we found some fascinating clues about the hive’s history:

• Hatched Queen Cells: We found several old queen cells that had already hatched. This confirms that this colony has successfully swarmed at least once, sending a new queen and half the bees off to find another home.
• The Comb Build: The sheer volume of wax inside that fiberglass shell was incredible. Ethan spotted multiple queen cells throughout the structure, proving this was a very active and established site.

The Battle with Small Hive Beetles

One of the downsides of these fabricated features is the amount of “hiding spots” they provide for pests.

• The Infestation: We found a significant number of Small Hive Beetles (Aethina tumida) scurrying inside the rock.
• The Challenge: In a standard wooden hive box, bees can usually patrol the edges and keep beetles under control. But in the irregular, craggy interior of a fiberglass rock, the bees struggle to guard every nook and cranny. Moving them into a clean, smooth-walled hive box at the Kyalami Apiary is the best thing we can do for their health.

Relocation to Kyalami

We’ve successfully transported the bees and the rescued brood to our apiary.

• The Observation: While there was plenty of comb, there was actually a surprising lack of fresh brood. This reinforces our theory that they might have swarmed recently, leaving the remaining colony in a bit of a transition phase.
• The Goal: We’ve set them up in a safe, manageable environment where they can focus on building back their numbers without fighting off a rock full of beetles!

Every rescue is a step closer to our 3 to 300 goal. We’re saving colonies, one “rock” at a time!

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Want to see how we handle hive pests?

I’ll be doing a video soon on the best beetle traps for Highveld beekeepers. Make sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss it!

Quick Question: Do you think fiberglass features are the “perfect” home for bees, or are they just a pest magnet? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.

How should we proceed? Would you like to see a follow-up on how this colony recovers from the beetles, or are you ready for our next technical roof rescue?