I picked up my package of bees at 7AM today at New Hampshire Honeybee in Gilsum, NH. I was the first customer to arrive so I had my pick of the litter.
I was told that I should choose a package that had the bees all clustered together, rather than spread out within the screened box they come in. So I chose a nice cluster and they sat on the floor of the car back to Vermont.
The queen is a marked Italian. I'm not sure if all the bees are Italian but they are nice, gentle bees. I didn't get stung at all but I was in my beekeeper's full suit so they didn't have the opportunity to get me!
I had never installed a package so I did some things backwards rather than the order written in Beekeeping for Dummies. For example, the queen cage didn't have nails to hang it between the frames so I had to go find nails and a rock to do it. I had never removed the cork from the candy side of the cage either so had to go find something to pry it off with. Next time, I'd be more prepared with these items.
I also dumped the bees into the hive before the queen cage was found inside the travel box. When I opened the traveling box, I couldn't find the queen cage because bees were all around it, hiding it. So I dumped the bees into the new hive...at least as many as possible. Some refused to come out of the box. They will find their way into the new hive with all their friends I expect.
I'm back in business!!
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
April 18th and spring is here and bees are coming soon
Another month has gone by and we are finally...almost....out of the cold weather. I say that but it's cold this morning but will warm up later today. The next several days will be spring-like weather. I see tulips, daffodils and hyacinths poking up from the ground now although nothing is blooming yet. Even the forsythia has not flowered yet but it's coming. The magnolia tree out front is not showing me anything yet. I don't see the buds on it. I do hope it blooms because it's just a beautiful start to spring.
The bees will be coming next week...the first batch. The two hives are set up in the yard. The electric fence is in place and working too. I had to put it up because last week a bear came through and rummaged through one of the hives last weekend. Thankfully he/she didn't destroy it, probably because there were no larvae and no honey there right now. But frames and top were tossed around. It's all put back together and protected now so I'm ready for the girls to show up!
Originally I was getting them on Monday, the 21st. Now it will be Thursday, the 24th. That will be a 3lb. package of bees. I will also be picking up a Nuc (5 frames of bees) sometime soon too but I haven't a date yet.
What was interesting is that earlier this week, we had 70 degree weather and my greenhouse was full of bees!!! They must have wintered over in there where I had stored some hives and frames. So I guess I didn't lose all my bees ...most of them were lost to the cold though. That was a sad day in January.
I do hope to plant some cold weather crops this weekend in the garden...lettuce, peas, kale, chard. Soon we'll see red buds on the trees and we'll be off and running with our summer season.
I see lots of work to be done outside. I think I am going to hire someone to mow the lawn this year so that I have more time to do fun things in my time off. I'd rather be growing things, picking flowers, taking walks, hunting mushrooms and generally enjoying life than keeping up with the maintenance of a lawn. Plus, there's plenty of work to be done beyond the mowing.
But don't get me wrong. My "lawn" is whatever is green and growing. I do not use pesticides, or any other fertilizer on the lawn other than maybe a bit of compost here and there. Mostly I just let whatever wants to grow grow. I like putting down clover because the bees love it and like letting anything else flower that wants to. Again the bees like it...and so do I. I often will mow around anything flowering.
I hope to keep these bees well beyond the year. It's too heartbreaking to lose them. Wish me luck!!
The bees will be coming next week...the first batch. The two hives are set up in the yard. The electric fence is in place and working too. I had to put it up because last week a bear came through and rummaged through one of the hives last weekend. Thankfully he/she didn't destroy it, probably because there were no larvae and no honey there right now. But frames and top were tossed around. It's all put back together and protected now so I'm ready for the girls to show up!
Originally I was getting them on Monday, the 21st. Now it will be Thursday, the 24th. That will be a 3lb. package of bees. I will also be picking up a Nuc (5 frames of bees) sometime soon too but I haven't a date yet.
What was interesting is that earlier this week, we had 70 degree weather and my greenhouse was full of bees!!! They must have wintered over in there where I had stored some hives and frames. So I guess I didn't lose all my bees ...most of them were lost to the cold though. That was a sad day in January.
I do hope to plant some cold weather crops this weekend in the garden...lettuce, peas, kale, chard. Soon we'll see red buds on the trees and we'll be off and running with our summer season.
I see lots of work to be done outside. I think I am going to hire someone to mow the lawn this year so that I have more time to do fun things in my time off. I'd rather be growing things, picking flowers, taking walks, hunting mushrooms and generally enjoying life than keeping up with the maintenance of a lawn. Plus, there's plenty of work to be done beyond the mowing.
But don't get me wrong. My "lawn" is whatever is green and growing. I do not use pesticides, or any other fertilizer on the lawn other than maybe a bit of compost here and there. Mostly I just let whatever wants to grow grow. I like putting down clover because the bees love it and like letting anything else flower that wants to. Again the bees like it...and so do I. I often will mow around anything flowering.
I hope to keep these bees well beyond the year. It's too heartbreaking to lose them. Wish me luck!!
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