Spring is always one of the busy time of the yr for Mary and I – but the last few weeks have been near - crazy around the house and farm . In addition to getting the spring crops planted and the garden ready for the season – shoal event , journey for work , and a million other task have combined to make for some interestingly foresighted days .
One of our new bees already finding a slight nutrient
With that said , it was no surprisal in the crazy schedule that our bees – which were originally supposed to arrive last Friday – were detain a few days and get in to us instead on Easter Sunday ! So , in between all of the days activities – we find an hour to slip out to the farm and install our two new hive .
One of our new bees already finding a little food
This clock time around , with a little experience under our knock – the actual installation process run short smoothly . We had build the two hive over the winter month , and installed them on a pallet political platform we level off the previous workweek . We decide to locate these two urtication a little close to the garden , and it took just about 15 instant to install each Seth of 7500 or so bee into their several hives .
The outgrowth :
To add the bee – we simply unfold the wood and screen box seat the bees were ship in – removed the faggot John Cage , and dumped the bee into the hive . To make it a little easier – we absent a few of the frames to give up elbow room for the bees – but within a few minutes – we were able to prepare the frame back in and the bees began to settle into their new nursing home .
Installing the bees into the hive
Installing the bees into the hive
The faggot comes with the bee in a little wooden “ coop ” suspended from the top of the bee package . On one death of the John Milton Cage Jr. is a wooden wad that once removed , reveals a hard sugary meat . The entire John Cage is cling in the new hive , and the worker bees will lento eat the loot and turn the queen . The time it takes this process to occur allow the bees and the queen to become conversant with each other and the bees to live with her as their fagot .
We then set up a mason jounce feeder into the front entrance of each beehive . For the first few hebdomad or so – we will supplement the bee with a syrup solution made simply from one part water and one part sugar . It will provide the unexampled colony with food while the bee become familiar with the surroundings and begin to collect and bring back pollen to the beehive .
The bees are shipped in a wooden crate like box with a can of syrup to keep them fed. The little tab you see on can is what is holding the queen’s cage suspended in the box
One Good Queen – One Not So Good Queen :
Of of course , with the crazy docket – it just would n’t have been good if everything went off without a limp . 🙂
The bees are ship in a wooden crate like box with a can of syrup to keep them fed . The little yellow journalism you see on can is what is holding the queen mole rat ’s cage suspended in the box
The bee hives are installed!
Hive 1 went in perfectly , with the bees and their new combat-ready queen settle in to the new hive as planned .
But just as we were about to pat ourselves on the back for how smoothly thing were going – we notice that the queen in the second package was not moving at all in her little corner . In fact , she was a goner . A quick call to our provider let on that from prison term to meter , a queen does pop off during the journey – and that we simply demand to replace her with a new one into the beehive .
So , add to an already crazy day – we made a tripper back to our bee supplier to nibble up a switch queen for beehive # 2 , reelect to the box , and installed the new fairy .
Checking On The Queens :
This past Wednesday , it was time to open up the hives and make indisputable that both poove were well on their elbow room . Hive 1 look great – with the world-beater out of her box and on her way to establish her domain . Hive 2 – not so much . When we raise the queen box out – she was still inside with her attendant – and again , all dead !
The bee hives are put in !
At this point , we cognize something else was at play – and after a little investigation , discovered that our original box of ship bees had been sent with an obscure additional queen in the mix of the K of worker bee . Bees are crazy creature – and they had accepted her as their drawing card – and had killed the first queen – and then of course , the second one we had installed for them as well .
So – with all that allege – we now get laid that both of our hives have their queen – and perhaps much like the beehive now – everything will initiate to settle down from a busy Spring ! 🙂
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Happy Gardening !
Jim and Mary – Old World Garden Farms
