So far, so good!
It’s hard to explain how wonderful it feels to just sit and watch the bees do their work. There’s a very calming effect to it. Not only that but when you are in the bee suit and feel very protected and you’re working the hive and you’re holding thousands of bees, it’s just a feeling that is hard to explain. It’s wonderful!
This year we are in the middle of a pandemic so I was unable to give my beekeeping mentor a hug when she got here to install the bees. That was really weird because I haven’t seen her in months and all I wanted to do was hug her. I’m definitely a hugger so coronavirus puts a damper on people who are touchy-feely. Probably not bad news to those who aren’t!
Here we are being responsible and socially distancing. I prefer physical distancing.
My mentor Betsy is a master beekeeper and purchased all of the equipment to help us get started last year. Her father had ALS and she wanted to do this in honor of him, as a gift of love, she said. And what a gift it’s been!
Even though the bees didn’t make it last year, we still learn so much about them and their process. It was heartbreaking to watch those colonies dwindle but that’s just how it goes in the beekeeping game. The best lessons are the hardest to learn.
Since we are on quarantine, we have not had any visitors to the house which means we do not have nurse coverage for now. I was really bummed because I wanted to go and pick up the bees with Betsy and see how all of that went down, but I was unable to. Maybe next year!
Luckily Betsy snagged two packages of bees for us and delivered them for the installation. She and her husband Bobby are beyond awesome! Two of the kindest folks you’ll ever meet.
Since we all had to physically distance ourselves, Bobby stayed in the car while Betsy and I put on our suits. We each grabbed a package and kept 6 feet apart while we took them to the hives. This is what they look like in their transport packages.
Previously we had installed the bees the way many people do, which is to turn the box over and dump them out into the hive. Betsy said that she wanted to do it a little bit differently this year and that she thought she had a gentler method for them.
That method is to simply remove several of the frames from the hive and set the box down in there. That way, the bees can just gradually come out of there and into their new home. It makes so much sense!
In order to do that, we had to remove the can of syrup from the top of the cage, and then we had to place the queen within the hive so that the bees could work her out of her cage.
Typically, the queen that comes with purchased packages is not “their” queen so the colony needs to get accustomed to her. That process takes several days and has a lot to do with pheromones which is something we can get into later.
The queen comes in her own little cage. That cage has a hole on one end which is how she and her fellow bees will exit once the colony is ready to accept her.
That hole is filled with a thick, waxy substance that is like candy to the bees. They eat that candy over a couple of days which gives everyone time to get used to her. Without that adjustment, they don’t know what to do and they will not accept her, but instead, they will immediately swarm and kill her.
I witnessed it firsthand last year and it was awful. My very first experience as a beekeeper and it was a complete and total fail! Along with the candy on the one end, there is a small piece of cork on top of that that is used to prevent the bees from getting to the candy while they are in transit, and while they get used to the queen.
My job was to take tweezers and remove that cork, leaving just the candy in the hole. My tweezers just weren’t getting a grip and I accidentally pushed everything into the cage with the queen which left the hole open. She immediately flew out before I even realized it and by that time it was too late and they were pretty much doomed!
I can still hear Betsy saying that it would be OK but listening to her tone in my head now I know that she knew it was not! She had to have just been rolling her eyes behind me. I still laugh about it! But hey, the best lessons are typically the ones that hurt the most.
This year I need to be much more careful about that. I started feeling some anxiety the week before the bees were due to arrive. I kept going through it in my head and looking at my tweezers and practiced picking up small things. It was hilarious!
