This post is for my nephew C in Oregon who wants to know all about our bees.
I ordered bees last January. I received 4 pounds of bees and 2 queens in April. Since its really hot at our property we needed to build a shelter for the bees by our pond.
Hubby and his friend spent the weekend building this great shelter for the bees.
This is the container the bees and queen were shipped in. We released them during the afternoon when it was warm and not breezy.
We put pollen patties in the hives to help the bees get nutrients. The patties are a very sticky substance encased in wax paper. They eat the paper and the nutrients inside.
The bees in their new home. The hive on the left I named Aurora and the hive on the right is Borealis. If we are successful and get another hive, it will start with the letter 'C'. It is easier for me in my note taking to refer to them this way.
To ensure the hives had what they needed to survive as a new and small hive, we put hive top feeders on both hives. We filled them with a 20 pound sugar mixture. This way, while they are establishing themselves into a hive and starting to raise brood they don't need to go far for resources. They have resources at the top of the hives. The rail like structure is,actually a raft so the bees don't drown when they are getting the sugar water. The white is beeswax they made. We had to scrape it all off, otherwise it would stick to the feeder. I put it in a container. When I harvest enough I hope to make some beeswax candles. That won't be for awhile.
Beeswax!
Since the hives are doing well and filled up all of the frames in their hives with honey and brood, we added a new box in June. This will be a 10 framed honey super. Once the frames in this box are full that will be the honey we can actually harvest. The rest of the honey we need to leave for the bees so they have food over the winter time. The grated plastic thing on top of the hive box is called a queen excluder. The holes allow bees to get through to put in pollen and honey but they are too small for the Queen to get herself through to lay eggs.
This is what the hives look like now. The top box is the honey super.
Hubby in his beekeeping suit. He is holding a smoker. We lightly smoke the bees when we open the hive. The smoke makes them docile. When we open the hive we are checking for parasites, especially verroa mites, the health and size of the colony and the brood pattern and for honey.
Opening the Aurora hive.
Separating the hive frames. The frames are where the bees deposit pollen, cap honey and the queen lays eggs (brood).
If you look closely you can see the pollen on the back of the bees knees. The pollen comes in many colors. The bees will fly miles if needed to gather pollen. I hope our bees don't have to fly that far. Besides our little fruit orchard there are wild flowers and a lot of hills with oak trees on our side of the valley for them to gather pollen.
A good sign. The dark lower part of the frame is brood, the rest is capped honey and pollen. These frames weigh a lot when filled on both sides like this.
Hopefully the honey supers we put on will be filled with honey (and no brood) like this by the end of summer.
If you look closely you can see Deacon sleeping in the background. He and the bees leave each other alone.
In the interest of full disclosure both hubby and I have been stung once. Both times were our fault. We checked the hives in flip flops and shorts, without any protective gear. We also ignored their "pinging" of us with their bodies as a warning we were disturbing them. Normally, we like to take a look at their activity level without opening the hive and disturbing them. Opening the hive and disturbing them is stressful to the colony. When we do that we don't suit up or use a smoker. They are incredibly docile and sting only as a final defense mechanism. They are fascinating creatures.
