Things are Buzzing Around Here

The Bee Arrival

Are hives were ready, everything seemed good

but this is a bee story with hard lessons learned.

My husband brought back three boxes of bees from 

Des Moines yesterday, that equates to about 30,000 bees

 flying around our garden area.  

They are packaged in wooden screened boxes which are linked

together.  There are also hobo bees that attach themselves

to these boxes, trying to get to the queen and they just

come home with your packages.  It's a good thing that

my husband's truck has a shell because the hobos can

fly around at will Inside your vehicle! 

While my husband was gone I prepared the sugar syrup that

we must feed them until there are enough blooms to

sustain them.  It's a 2:1 ratio with basically 16 lbs of

sugar to a gallon of water.  We put it into mason jars

that have a drip lid and sit in a holder which we put

inside the hives.  Some put them outside the hive.

We suited up and brought the bees and gear up to

the garden area.  My husband used a tool to pry up the

wooden bar holding all the hives together.  Bees start coming

out at this time so you need to work quickly.

You spray them down with sugar syrup to calm them.

Then remove the syrup feeder can that is dropped into

the box.  

Here was our big error:

Although there is a difference of opinion on releasing

the queen, the direct release method did not work

for us.

There is a metal handle that you slide

out of the box and which holds the queen.

You brush off the bees and pull the plug out of the 

queen holder and put that into the hive.

While we got these bees from Des Moines, they get their

queens from California, which unbeknownst to us, 

packages differently.  Most queen cages have a plug on one

end and then a sugar syrup candy plug between the 

exit hole and the queen.  When you put the queen in the 

hive she is released slowly as the other bees eat through

the candy plug to reach her.

Ours had no candy and we didn't know how she would

eat if we didn't release her.  Since that time I found out

that the bees would feed her through her cage. So Next Time,

we will not release immediately and allow her more time

to socialize with the bees and get used to her environment.

One beekeeper told us that the place we purchased from

does have the queen inside the box with her bees for

several days and it should have been a clean install; however,

there was something they didn't like.

There is also a difference of opinion on releasing the bees.

Some put the box of bees inside the hive and some shake them

out.  We put them inside, along with their feeder which 

has the option of being external as well.  The raccoon would

have a field day with external feeders- they steal my 

hummingbird feeders - so we placed it inside too. 

The next day we would remove the box of bees.

Back to the good part for awhile.

There was a lot of bee activity once we had everyone

taken care of.  You could see them buzzing everywhere.

None were aggressive but some did fly around us.

The suits will help protect us but there is still a possibility of

 a sting, something that we want to happen occasionally.

Some research says that if we are exposed to the venom 

all the time without a sting, we could become allergic

or the beekeeper's family could become allergic by being

in contact with the clothing and mixed in the wash.

So to get stung is OK once in awhile assuming you are not allergic.

We do have EpiPens on hand just in case.

Now the bad part.

When we returned from church my husband saw the swarm.

We opened the hives and the queens were gone along

with most of the bees, just some residual bees left.

We picked up some of the bees that were in a cluster by 

a fallen tree, hoping there was a queen in the middle.

My husband put them into a hive and we are hoping for the best.

The next day he saw a queen up at our plastic greenhouse.

He suited up, picked up the ball of bees and put them into

a second hive.  The queen immediately flew down into the 

frames, which is a good sign.  We will watch them to see if

it was successful.

In the meantime I am on the beekeeping site asking for advice.

My husband is also asking his friends and as it turns out one

of them has a friend that can sell us bees in 3-4 weeks,

some that have already started making honey on the frames

which will encourage them to create a queen and stay.

On the advice of the bee group I picked up some lemon grass 

essential oil.  It says to wait for the hive to be healthy and 

use it around the bees as an anti fungal and antibiotic.

It also simulates the pheromones of the queen which is why 

some beekeepers use it when establishing their hive.

Trying to keep them happy.

I also had weeded a bed nearest the bees and planted some 

already blooming or soon to bloom flowers.  I also have

a Save the Bees seed collection and want to plant

herbs such as borage for them.  From what I can see,

if we need to use a tiller we will need to do that just as 

the bees are going in for the night, so we don't aggravate them.

We also have to have an education session with Taylor

(my granddaughter) and the neighbor girls so they stay

away from that area and don't scream and yell, running

around there.  We're on 5 acre minimum lots so there is

plenty of room to play elsewhere and we are far from 

the neighbors' yards.  I don't think it will be a problem.

This is my bee suit.

Yes it is HUGE.  Between being only 5' 2", and no option

of Short sizes, I have lost a great deal of weight since ordering.

Even if I had not, it would have been big.  I suppose big is better,

too tight might mean a sting.  The gloves are huge too but it is

what the sizing chart said to use based on hand measurement.

More on the bees as things develop.