Scale hive is located at the Blandy Experimental Farm, a 700-acre University of Virginia research facility and arboretum in the Shenandoah Valley. The surrounding landscape is mixed agricultural. There are three hives located at interfaces of 100 yr old mixed hardwood lots with crops and pastureland.
Colonies:
The colonies are in 2-3 mediums, of indeterminate strain, with supers added by the beekeeper as needed. In 2010 they were weighed weekly.
Scale:
The scale is a battery operated mobile postal scale with 150 lb capacity with 0.2 lb intervals. It is placed on a jack under the hive and raised to record the weight. If necessary, the supers are weighed separately.
Forage:
Major forage sources are black locust and tulip trees in May, bee bee tree in July, spiny plumeless thistle in June-August, and Canada thistle in June-July.