The Hunnicutt Homestead

Beekeeping

The springtime weather caused a little problem for me as a beekeeper.  I had received my package of bees on Saturday but had to keep them in the house until Tuesday due to the cold weather.  I sprayed them with sugar syrup twice per day to make sure they had plenty to eat.  There were a couple of "hitchhikers" on the outside of the package and I left them there.  This made S a bit nervous but they were fine and stayed close to their queen.  I loosely wrapped a piece of newspaper around them to help contain them as well as insulate them.

Finally Tuesday came and it was sunny and warm (approx. 55 degrees).  To help ensure a successful colony, I took 2 frames from an existing hive and placed it in the brood chamber for the new package.   When I was removing the queen cage from the box of bees I accidentally dropped it and she fell onto a nice pile of bees within the package box.  I had to reach my hand in there and retrieve her and it was wild to feel the vibration of hundreds of bees covering my gloved hand.   I then placed the queen in between the frames and shook the rest of the bees over her. 

I had spent 3 hours sanding and painting my new hive supers earlier in the week.  I had also made approximately 6 gallons of sugar syrup to feed to my two existing hives as well as the new package and for a split of one of the stronger hives.  So far both have gone off without a hitch.  I am also anxious to try placing a pollen catcher on the strong hive I didn't split.

Tomorrow I will be checking to see if the bees have eaten the queen out of her cage.  If not, I will just uncork the other end.  I noticed today that they had made a good dent in the candy but there was a ton of it in there.  My split hive seems to be doing well but doesn't seem to have raised many field bees and I'm also not sure of a queen.  I need to continue to observe it and will relax a bit more when I see more bees flying about the entrance and can observe some nice eggs in the frames.

Other than monitoring the bees I can rest a bit where they are concerned and let the bees do their thing...work work work!