We have a new family member, well actually we have about 10,000 new family members. (Hmm wonder if we can claim that on our taxes?) We now have a bee hive, right smack in the middle of our garden. Dan thought our past dismal tomato crops were due to lack of pollination so he decided to get a hive. Well I’m sure much more thought and preparation went into it but from what I saw we just all of a sudden got a hive.
Last week made the early morning trek over to Conrad Hive and Honey in Canal Winchester to pick up his 3 pounds of bees with queen. Our bees had just been driven in along with a truck full of bees from southern Georgia.
This is what 3 pounds of bees look like
BJ is not too excited about the addition of bees to our yard. He keeps reminding me that he is allergic.
Here’s our friend Tim, who has a few of his own hives, helping us get the hive set up.Thomas is all geared up and ready to go.
This is what hive looks like, you just keep stacking these layers on top of each other as needed. We’ll be starting with just 2 levels but can add more as the bees fill it up.
The bees have been released. They’re slowly making there way into the hive. The queen is in her own little box and she has already been placed in the hive. The bees work to release the queen from her box by eating through a plug of sugar candy. If she is just released into their midst before they are used to her they will kill her and the hive will die.
About 4 days later Dan is opening up the hive to check on the queen and see if she has been released.
That’s the queens box that he is pulling out of the hive.
The queen is still in her box, since the bees had not released her yet, Dan will pull the plug out and put her box back in the hive so she can make her new home.
Once the queen and her box has been replaced Dan closes up the hive.
But the next day we were worried because there was no bee activity outside the hive so I did just a tiny peek into the hive to make sure all our bees hadn’t flown the coop. Dan publicly accused me on Facebook of single-handedly destroying the hive and scarring away the queen. But no worries he is just an alarmist and the hive is buzzing happily.
I wasn’t sure about having a hive right in the middle of our, not so big, garden but I really like having the bees back there and you hardly even notice them.
Interesting. I never knew that about the queen and eating the sugar plug. Of course, your bees don’t seem to be too interested in releasing the queen. They may be anarchists.
This is all very exciting!! I can’t wait to see your new family members.
Fun! I’ve always dreamed of having a hive; I think it may be even better to live vicariously and watch yours!
All the more reason to come visit you in your backyard!