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)