I traveled down to Holliston, MA to get my Nuc and brought it home earlier this afternoon. Then I proceeded to get things ready to put them into the hive. Here's how it was given to me.
The nuc box is a heavy cardboard box and it's disposable. It was strapped down with some sort of packing tape and had vents on either side. Boy, could I hear the bees in there wanting to get out of that box. The people I purchased them from told me they'd been in there just since the day before.
My hive was already in place, but I needed to add the top hive feeder so brought that outside. I brought out my hive tools and the smoker as well as the sugar water for the top hive feeder...and a bucket to put everything in.
Then I went to start the smoker. Next time I will prepare better for the smoker. I hadn't planned to use it but it was recommended by the sellers of the bees. I tried to rush making the fire in the smoker so it went right out. I should know by now never to rush making a fire or skipping steps. When I try to rush it, it doesn't work out. I think the smoker only it provided one or two puffs. I started with pine needles that were a little too damp from all the rain we got over the past week. So when that didn't work very well, I used one of those pellets that came with the smoker.. Perhaps I should have used a few because that went out right away too. Actually tomorrow is another beekeeper class and using the smoker is part of that class so I'll do better with that next time. I think I was just a bit too anxious.
This is something I'll run into time and time again, I suspect. Different people giving different instructions. I had instructions to spray the bees with sugar water when putting them into the hive from the demonstration a few weeks ago...and not to use a smoker when adding bees to the hive. Most other times, the smoker is used. So, in the end, I relied mostly on spraying the bees lightly with the sugar water when the smoker failed. It all worked out fine I think.
Then I did as I was instructed. I removed 5 frames from my hive box and put two empty ones in...then add the 5 frames from the nuc, one at a time, in the order that they were in within the nuc. They did say one empty frame could go in the middle. So I did this:
empty frame
empty frame
nuc frame
nuc frame
empty frame
nuc frame
nuc frame
nuc frame
empty frame
empty frame
Then I added the top hive feeder above the bee chamber, and added sugar water.
Then I added the inside cover
Then I added the top outer cover
After that, I thought I was done and brought things into the house. Then I reread the instructions and saw that I had the entrance reducer wrong. The small opening needed to be at the top instead of the bottom so I had to go adjust that.
Also the top inner cover has a hole in it...a slot about 3/4" wide and 3" long...but the instructions said to close that off with something...so in my second visit to the hive, I used a clump of grass to block the hole and will leave it there until the bees are acclimated to their new home.
I feel a sense of accomplishment. I was very nervous but kept my cool and didn't panic when bees were swarming around me. I did panic a bit before opening the box at the start though. They were humming away in there and I could picture them all coming after me. But nothing like that happened.
Now I see bees outside the box...hanging around the entrance. I've seen bees come in with yellow or orange stuff and enter the hole. I'm thinking it must be pollen but really? Is that happening already? I was a bit worried about all the bees on the outside of the box. But a little research on the web assured me they'd go into the box when it got colder last night...and sure enough, by nightfall, there were no longer any bees outside!
I set up a chair and have a small pair of binoculars so that I can observe, which I did just for a while earlier last night. I think it will become a ritual for nice evenings. I found it very relaxing.
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