Two hives located in the UMD Western Md. Research and Education Center apiary in the Antietam Creek valley near Keedysville. Landscape is mixed cropland and woodland, with apple orchards. Apiary is sheltered by hedgerows and trees.
Colony:
Two deep 10-frame brood chambers, with excluder and medium supers. The bees are mixed stock with new queens from from a local breeder.
Scale:
A Fairbanks 500 lb (0.25 div) and Howe 1000 lb (0.5 div) both on concrete pad and equipped with NASA/USDA electronic scales. The beams are covered, hives open to the weather.
Forage:
Tulip poplar, black locust, berries, linden, some sweet clover and alfalfa, sumac, goldenrod, aster. Several acres of oilseed sunflower were planted nearby.