A Few Weeks Later....

June 6, 2009
We are starting to feel a little more at ease with our new bees.
It's very exciting when we inspect the hives and look at all the hard work these little creatures have been doing.
And...in just a few short weeks they have accomplished quite a bit. The Queen has begun to lay her eggs (up to 2,500 a day), the worker bees have been very busy building wax foundation, feeding the young, and keeping the hive nice and tidy. While the foragers have been flying back and forth from the hive collecting pollen and nectar from available sources.
You can see our beloved Queen in a picture above. She is the one with the blue dot.
Her ONLY job is to lay eggs. She does absolutely no work and has her own "court" of bees to take care of her. They feed her and clean her. Without her you would have not hive as she is the only bee that lays eggs.
Our job....FEED, FEED, FEED!

Our First Inspection

May 21, 2009
Our first inspection of the hives since installing the bees. Oh what will we see?
The bees have been busy beginning to build wax foundation onto the frames.
Our job....FEED, FEED, FEED!

Queen Bee

Some first time beekeepers make the mistake of releasing the queen from her cage. NEVER help release a queen. The bees and their queen must slowly become aquainted with each other so that the Queen becomes accepted into the hive. If after a few days, the queen hasn't been released, then and only then is it okay to remove the candy cork from her cage.

Bees NOT Beehaving!

After installing the bees we waited a few days for them to release themselves. One package of bees did exactly as it should, and we removed an empty package box. These bees were becoming aquainted with their new home.
The other package of bees....did not. These bees decided to begin making combs inside of the package box and not move into their new, roomy hive.
We made a quick 911 call to an experienced beekeeper and were told to go out and physically shake the bees out. RIGHT!
Trying not to stress or aggravate the poor young bees, we gave a few quick shakes and decided to leave the package of bees in front of the hive entrance and hope for the best. The bees didn't let us down and before the end of the day, most of the bees had found their new home. What a relief. Now it was time to sit and wait about a week before bothering them again. Let the bees do their job of releasing the caged queen and begin to build out the frames. Our job was to FEED, FEED, FEED the bees a solution of 50% sugar, 50% water - food they would need to get to work!

We're Newbies With New Bees

May 16, 2009
Our package bees arrive.
Each package contains approximately 10,000 bees. We are feeling excited and slightly nervous about what is next. Installing the bees into their hives. You can watch as many videos, see live demonstrations, and read as many books as you like about the proper way of doing this, but let's face it, actually doing it yourself is just a little bit different.
After removing the cage with the queen inside and attaching the cage to a frame, it's time to install the remaining 9,996 bees....tapping the entire cage down, sending the bees to the bottom, removing the feeding can and QUICKLY flipping the package over the hole in the top cover the of the hive. Now the bees should come out of the package and go into the hive by themselves.
NOTE I said should....