Home sweet home: hiving the bees!
Whew! Yesterday was an exciting one, welcoming home some 60,000 or so new pets! Now that the girls are settled in, here’s a recap of the hive installation: The weather was not ideal, a little cool and rainy but the nice folk at Bailey Bee Supply assured us that it would be fine, and in fact maybe help, in that the bees would hunker down in their new hives and not fly so much during the install.
So many packages of bees, waiting for their new home.
After picking out two of the best looking ones (large cluster with few dead bees on the bottom), we loaded them into our vehicle for the short ride home.
Hello bees! Meet your new bee keeper!
The radar looked like we had a rain-free window so we got right to it as soon as we got home. After donning our protective gear, re-reading the instructions advised by the NCSU apiculture people (for the 100th time), and saying a little nervous prayer, Rob got the video camera ready, and we began.
Selfie!
First thing you have to remove the can of syrup (that feeds the bees during shipment), then take out the cage containing the queen. She is kept separate, because the package bees are new to her, and may not accept her if she is let loose among them prematurely.
No turning back now!
The queen in her cage, with her “attendants”.
On the end of the cage (on the left side in this picture), there is an exit hole that is plugged with sugary candy (the white stuff), and sealed with a cork. I removed the cork, and within a few days, the bees will eat through the candy plug and release the queen. By that time, they will have been exposed to the queen’s pheromones (chemical “scents”) long enough that they will not kill her, but will accept her as their own queen bee!
Now for the scary part: thump the package down hard enough to knock all the bees to the bottom, and then invert and pour/shake those bees into the opened hive. Watching the video later, I felt kind of bad at how hard I shook those poor bees. Then I gently replaced the 4 frames, and wedged the queen cage in between the middle two. The video doesn’t show it, but I put 2 small nails into the top of the queen cage and used them as supports to hang the cage between the frames.
Shake and bake!
Adding the hive top feeder and sugar syrup.
The final step is to fill the hive top feeder with sugar syrup, and then close up the hive. Install complete!
Closing up the hive.
Success! First hive installed. PS: Don’t knock the outfit! But gotta love the pants tucked into socks look.
Here’s the video of the first hive installation. Notice that around the 4 minute mark I say “I just got stung!” One particularly pissy bee apparently decided she didn’t like me and stung through my glove! I took it in stride, and it certainly won’t be the last time. (And it wasn’t–I got stung 2 more times (through my jeans) during the second hive installation. Wtf!?!)
Now we wait 3-5 days before opening the hives to confirm the queens were released. It is killing me…I so want to peek!
Does this make us now officially beekeepers? I have a feeling the bees will decide…
Until the next update, thanks for following along with us in our adventures in beekeeping!
Bee good! (See what I did there?)
Your father-in-law says that you are a brave one! It takes a lot of courage to be surrounded by soooo many bees! To think that you only had three stings while working with 60000 of them! That’s fantastic! You were well prepared and worked very well with these new pets. And the camera man got off free with no bites??
The cardinals seemed very happy in the background.
Thanks for your comment Frieda! Not sure about brave, naïve maybe 😉
Yes the camera man got off sting free, probably because he wasn’t the one thumping and dumping the poor bees. And he was wearing shorts! I wondered if you would notice the cardinals serenading us in the background 😉
Erika
Yay, you guys! So rad! Quite the nice hive set up you have there, and SO green!! Im jealous! Both Ivan and i watched your video. I think you just need schleppier pants, and the bees wont be able to sting thru to skin 😉 well congrats and may your bee adventures contine to be positive and successful!
Thanks cuz! I agree, schleppier pants are in order!
Looking good bee keepers! Keep us updated on the progress :), and stings! 😉
Question 1: What are your plan for all that honey (and please keep it clear here).
Question 2: Where is the Mew Memorial Garden in relationship to the bee hive
Question 3: Have you ever grown Brussel sprouts?
*clean…not clear
Answer1: Keep some, give some away, sell some? Make mead? Suggestions?
Answer2: The Mew memorial garden is in the bed which surrounds the bee yard. There are pics in the post “The bees are arriving soon”. I’ll post more soon.
Answer3: Yes, we’ve tried growing brussel sprouts, but by the time the stalks were grown, it was too hot for the sprouts to form 🙁 We need to get them started earlier in the spring or else try for a late fall crop.