In addition to this weekend's swing set project, we also got our two new hives of bees. Tonight my dad (Opa) and I put the bees in their new hives. As promised when the first hive came to a tragic end this winter, here are the details of starting a new hive.
Each hive has a queen bee. The queen bee comes in a little package (shown below) with 5 attendant bees. The attendants are responsible for making sure the queen gets fed and for eating through the sugar in the end of the box to release her into the hive.
You take the queen box and rubber band it to one of the hive frames. It usually takes about 5 days for the attendants to eat through the sugar and release the queen into the hive. Keeping the queen in the box allows the rest of the bees to accept her as their queen so that by the time she gets out, they won't kill her and your hive will survive and grow.
Each hive has a queen bee. The queen bee comes in a little package (shown below) with 5 attendant bees. The attendants are responsible for making sure the queen gets fed and for eating through the sugar in the end of the box to release her into the hive.
Bees come in 3 pound packages of approximately 12,000 bees. Yes, I said 12,000...crazy huh? You spray the bees down with sugar water to keep them calm. Then you take the little square off the top of the box and shake the bees out of the box and into the hive.
Here are dad and I with our bees and our goofy "costumes" for handling the bees!
Finally, here is a video of us putting the bees in the hive. For those of you who have never met my dad, he's as crazy as I am. Both of my parents are a lot of fun. I hope Isaac can say that about his parents one day too! Dad and I are both in agreement that beekeeping is addictive. It's a fun hobby that I'm so glad my family is all involved in thanks to my brother-in-law Mark. I'm so looking forward to teaching Isaac about his bees as he grows up!
Hopefully we'll have a big crop of honey for sale late this summer!!
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