Checking in on Hive #1

After installing #2 hive, it was time to check on hive # 1 to see their progress and remove the queen's cage. A bonus would be to spot the queen, but it takes a real good eye to spot her, even if she is clipped and marked. The queen's body is longer and more slender than the worker bees, with no markings on her back. Her eyes are also set different. The drones are a larger size than the workers as well, with large eyes that almost meet in the middle. They do have similar markings as the worker bees (to my untrained eye)- Look at the close up shot of my frmae and see if you can spot any :0).
After smoking the hive, I removed the inner cover and pulled out a frame- I caouldn't belive all they had built in two weeks! It is definitely true that bees are the hardest working creature out there! I also spotted some brood (eggs) in the comb in the bottom super, so even though I didn't catch a glimpse of her, I know the queen was there doing her job of procreation. I was a quick inspect, I removed the cage, and put the hive bakc together so the bees could get back to work. As temoting as it is to look in on my hives, it does disrupt their 'groove' especially smoking them, so I will keep my peeks to a recommended minimum. But it was thrilling to see them at work- the epitome of the phrase busy bee!

Package #2 Underdogs installed!

So in my bee reading, many an author sang the praises of starting two hives at once. They said this came in very handy in better spotting a disease or problem with a hive by comparative raising. So I purchased two packages. Hive #1 was actually the second one I bought, it did not travel through the mail. Package # 2 arrived early on May 12th, 6:55am to be exact- and I was promptly called by the Post Office to please come get my bees. Just one problem. My hive for them had not arrived. Homeless bees that had been stuck in a box for 4 days- not good. So I sent out an SOS email to every beekeeper I knew, and thankfully my good friend Chris Sheldon who has been beekeeping for over 20 years had a spare hive. So that evening we both drove 1 1/2 hrs to meet for a hive exchange. The bees would just have to wait it out one more night in confined quarters. As cruel as this seemed, there was a frost predicted for Tuesday night, so the bees would have had install shock and cold shock, so it was best to wait.

Wednesday morning I took the hive out for a cleaning (no chemicals, just warm water and a scrub brush) and cleaned all the old propolis and comb from the frames, installed wax foundation in each frame (10 per super), and lugged it all to the back yard bee spot.

I took my time with this install, and I must say, I became so much more a part of this install than the other one. I don't know why people root more for the underdog- but in this case I definitely worked hard for my underbees :0)

I'm no boyscout, and it was a windy day, so finally after an entire book of matches, I got my smoker lit. Smoking the bees disrupts their main type of communication pheromones. They cannot effectively communicate any signals such as danger, so they basically become confused and scatter. Another thing I've heard is when they smell fire, they go into survival mode and gorge themselves on honey, so they can rebuild later. This gorging makes them sluggish and less aggressive. Either way, they stay clear so a beekeeper can work. This package was put together way to well, and I had to basically break the whole box to get it open, dropping it once- oops!

I looked into the package, and had to sift through the thousands of bees to find the queen- the bees were all over me! I dumped them more successfully than the first package, getting most in the hive since the box was destroyed.

I pried open the queen's cage, set it inside the super and closed up shop. Another successful install, and so much more satisfying since I had to really work for these bees. Now it's their turn to work for me. Next stop- peeking in on hive #1. But that's for tomorrow's post- it's been a long day :0)

Installing My First Package of Bees: April 26th

On April 26th, 2009, I traveled to Forestville, NY to pick up my first package of bees. They had just been transported from Georgia the day before. The package was $69 for 3 pounds of Italian bees (that's about 10,000 bees!) and an Italian queen. There are a few different types of bees, but Italians tend to be the most docile and a pretty good producer. The queen is inside the package, but contained in a small cage with a few 'attendants'. This is to give the bees time to adjust to their new queen; if introduced too soon, they could kill her.
That evening was a perfect time to install- cool lower 60's, and a nice sunny day. I was quite nervous though, so I dragged Peter down with me- only he had no protective gear :0). First, I sprayed the bees with a sugar water solution (food), then a few puffs of smoke to calm them, and I pried the lid off the package.
It was quite hard to open, and when I finally did get it open, a cloud of bees came flying to freedom! I then extracted the queen cage, and dumped the bees down into the super. I had been told to thump the package hard to let them fall out- but it just seemed a tad scary to bang an open package of 10,000 bees, so i just shook it a few times. Only about 60% came out, so I set the package at the entrance, hung the queen's cage on the frames, and closed up the hive. Within a few minutes, the bees began a parade up the cinderblock and into the hive entrance- smart little suckers!
Now it was time to walk away- and no peeking for at least a week. I fed them three feeders full of sugar water that week, and then left them to do what bees do best! All in all a nerve-wracking but satisfying first installation by yours truly!