To Bee Or Not To Be Honey
Installation into the Hives
The bees arrived after a long trip from the California Almond pollination on April 15th, and Covid 19 was in full swing in our area. Businesses were shut down and people were working from home. Bees being agriculture were an exception (necessary business) so we were going to be able to pick up the bees on time. We were to drive to the fair grounds in Monroe, masks on face, present our receipt at one check point, then drive forward where a person would place the bees in the trunk of my Contour, then we would drive home. No contact with the people or bees until we got home 30+ minutes later.
Well most of the bees we contained in their package, but a few stragglers were hanging out on the outside, talk about dedication. After getting home I set up the hive on there stands and practiced the step that I was planning on following to get the bees in their new home. After I was sure I had it down pat, I put on my white bee suit and did absolutely nothing right.
Well most of the bees we contained in their package, but a few stragglers were hanging out on the outside, talk about dedication. After getting home I set up the hive on there stands and practiced the step that I was planning on following to get the bees in their new home. After I was sure I had it down pat, I put on my white bee suit and did absolutely nothing right.
First I had trouble getting the syrup can out of the package while keeping the bees in the cage. Yes you really need to smack the package hard on the ground to dislodge the bees and have enough time to get the can out and something to cover the hole. After a couple of tries I finally figured it out and you can see in the photo above that the bees were already headed back to the queen's cage.
I was able to get the queen cage out with less troubles and and put her in my pocket. Then for the real fun (stressful) part, actually pouring the bees into the hive. I wish I had taken video of the whole thing because it would have been a good laugh today. Basically by this time I had figured out that it took a pretty good shake to get the bees to let go, and so I poured 3 pounds of bees into the hive as instructed, and got most of them in the hive in the first shot. Based on future experience I wish I could have told myself to order the 4 pound package rather then the 3 pound package. 3 pounds worked, but I think they would have had a better start with more bees.
The next thing that I learned LATER was that I should have treated the package (or hive) for varroa early one because that is the perfect time since there is not brood.
After getting the bees in the Hive I carefully opened the queen cage and stuffed a marshmallow in the hole. This helps delay the queen from being exposed to the worker bees until they get used to her pheromones and accept her as their queen. It was pretty obvious that they already liked her at this point because they were feeding her and acting pretty docile, but being a new Beekeeper I choose to follow all the rules I was give. Below you can see one of the workers trying to fees Queen Mary in her queen cage.
I was able to get the queen cage out with less troubles and and put her in my pocket. Then for the real fun (stressful) part, actually pouring the bees into the hive. I wish I had taken video of the whole thing because it would have been a good laugh today. Basically by this time I had figured out that it took a pretty good shake to get the bees to let go, and so I poured 3 pounds of bees into the hive as instructed, and got most of them in the hive in the first shot. Based on future experience I wish I could have told myself to order the 4 pound package rather then the 3 pound package. 3 pounds worked, but I think they would have had a better start with more bees.
The next thing that I learned LATER was that I should have treated the package (or hive) for varroa early one because that is the perfect time since there is not brood.
After getting the bees in the Hive I carefully opened the queen cage and stuffed a marshmallow in the hole. This helps delay the queen from being exposed to the worker bees until they get used to her pheromones and accept her as their queen. It was pretty obvious that they already liked her at this point because they were feeding her and acting pretty docile, but being a new Beekeeper I choose to follow all the rules I was give. Below you can see one of the workers trying to fees Queen Mary in her queen cage.
Mary's cage was placed between the middle frames in the hive in a direction where the bees could feed her while others worked on the marshmallow to free her. In 3 days I would check to make sure she was released. This will be the last time I will see Mary for quite some time as she is a good hider, yet her story is probabaly the most interesting one of all my queens (yup there will be more).
After the first hive was done I was able to do the second hive much more smoothly. The second hive was a little more lively but I made fewer mistakes. Soon Queen Elizabeth II was installed and the hives were closed for 3 days to get comfortable in their new home.
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