My four packages of bees arrived today, with queens. That's four hives installed in about an hour and a half. I was worried about them after one of the boxes came out of the UPS truck slightly crushed, but the queens and workers all look fine. I set up the queen's candy boxes and shook out the workers (and some drones) into the hives. We're all set now.
I managed to do all of that without suiting up (can't find my suit ... it must be in storage). They were pretty gentle. However when I put the tops on and walked away one of the workers got stuck in my ear and she stung me there. Not really her fault. I wouldn't want to be stuck in my dirty ol' ear either and it didn't help none when I stuck my finger in there to get her out.
Four hives installed and one sting. Not a bad ratio! I've certainly done worse. Now the bee yard is all buzzing with activity. I'm a beekeeper again. Woohoo!
2 comments:
I enjoyed them when I lived on the farm. They got to be a pain, though, when I moved in town for four years, so I sold them and never got back to it again. I envy you, though.
Woohoo for you....we only have one colony left after Mr. Bear took out our other apiary by the pond. ll colonies destroyed in his rampage. That's what happens when you go ahead and invest in a new stainless steel extracter with visions of easier extracting!!
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