The Russian Bees are Settling

April 24, 2012

I went to see the Russian bees in the afternoon to make sure they were doing fine. After 20 some hours the bees had not removed the grass that Theresa had stuffed in the smallest entrance. I removed all of it, opened the cover to checked if they could drink the syrup, and the bees could. Obviously when I opened up the colony, the honeybees were flying all  around discovering their new surrounding, they were buzzing loudly with energy. I watched them for a bit, and could see that they were investigating the flowers on a tree nearby. I was also  observing closely if the foragers were getting in and out of the hive without any problems; and they were. Satisfied, I closed up everything watching the cloud of bees in the sun.  The honeybees seemed "happy" to finally fly instead of being contained. My inspection was done. I will return Sunday to check if the queen has been accepted and is laying. The Russian bees are settling in nicely!

New Hive Was Installed!

Nicolas checking!

Nicolas and I went to our new location in Chanhassen Sunday April 22, 2012. We installed the new hive, making sure it was tilted forward just a bit. This help with the evacuation of rain/water that would otherwise stay inside the wooden box, dampening the whole place. Honeybees detest dampness. 

The hive is on a beautiful restored prairie, and the proprietors made a little spot with mulch for the beehive to rest. This is an awesome location. There is some protection in the back from a wood pile and in the front few trees, and soon plenty of food for the bees. Now I just have to wait for the post office's phone call, "to let me know that my bee package has arrived and get here quickly, please!" Monday or Tuesday, we will see.

This will be our 7th. hive! Happy Earth Day!

First Visit of New Colonies in Chanhassen

This afternoon, April 20 2012 I visited the colonies in Chanhassen . I was happy to see that each colony had a laying queen. Long live the Queen! However I did not look or see any of the  queens. I was focused on seeing eggs. This is the first sign that the queen is alive, and accepted by the colony.

                                       

Honeybee eggs

Although we don't see a lot of flowers yet , the bees seem to find yellow and orange pollen. I could see them coming in the hive, their little legs packed with loads of pollen. There was also abundant new nectar in the frames. These bees won't have to work so hard this year . Building wax cells was mostly done by the bees that died this Spring. Making wax is time consuming for a bee and exhausting. So they will have to clean up some cells, gather pollen and nectar and ensure that the queen is well. Not bad!

I also had company in the apiary today, 3 generations of Vogels. That was great!

The honeybees drank most of their sugar syrup, and ate almost all of their pollen patties. I replenished everything. They are lucky, the honeybees are among dandelions, their favorite flowers! I am hoping for a little bit of warmer temperatures ...perhaps soon.

The Bees Are Home!

Our New Honeybees in Chanhassen

Yesterday evening around 6:30 pm  after the last band of rain, Ben and I set out to hive our 4-3# of bees, in Chanhassen. The skies were still grey and threatening but it was clearing somewhat. The honeybees (about 15,000 of them! per package) had been cooped up in small cages since Wednesday and had travelled from California by truck. A bit too much adventure.... I think you would be ready too, to settle down!
 The Vogels came to see what was happening...even their dogs were curious. We were happy to see them, and told them what we were about to do, then they  left us.

Luckily, these bees have an advantage...they will be using what the last bee colonies did all season long before dying. These new packages were placed in hives already containing honey, and collected pollen. In addition the frames are drawn, meaning the old bees had prepared the cells with wax ready to deposit the gathered nectar and pollen. The only thing left for those new honeybees would be some clean up. They will have to remove dead bees stuck in cells, and debris lodged on the frame.

 The hives were still in place since last year. We had done a good clean up earlier during our first visit. So, we first removed the top boxes, which were full of precious honey ( 40-50 lb) in each box! We carried them back to the car, the bees don't need that yet. Then we removed 4 frames from the middle of the box, Ben was careful to leave 2 frames of honey and pollen on each side of the box. I was removing the feeder can from the package, taking the queen cage and placing it in my pocket to keep her warm. In the meantime, Ben was pouring and shaking the bees inside the hive. After I would open the queen cage and let the queen walk on the frame. Lastly, Ben was replacing the 4 frames back slowly, to prevent any bee injuries. Finally we gave them 1/2 a pollen patty and a one gallon pail of 1:1 sugar syrup. And voila! Four times.

Ben removing the center frames

See our four packages!

                                                           

 Everything went relatively well considering it was Friday 13th!!!!

Ben making little dents in pollen patty 

The feeder pail is added

First colony settled!

1. Ben thinks that the first queen flew away when I made a sudden movement with my hand, to push away some bees from the frame, to let her walk freely. We will only know next Friday if we have a queen in that colony. If I see eggs...the queen will be well and alive.
2. Again Ben had an inquisitive bee or two crawling in and  up his pants! So, we had to stop everything.

The light is going down, we still have other packages to do...the bees were crawling higher...passing the knee now. Slowly, very
slowly...removed his shoe, opened the bee suit's
leg, rolling it up, rolling the jeans without scaring the bees for fear that they would sting.... after few
agonizing minutes, one bee left alive, the other one had been crushed.




  Ok, back to business after a big sight of relief. No sting...he had been lucky!
3. I got stung once, on my left hand. I got the reflex to remove my wedding band! My finger looks like a little sausage now!
4. It was a good evening, we were happy and done by 8:00 pm. We look forward to a great season! Happy Beekeeping!