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!!
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