When starting a hive with a new queen the instructions are to check the hive in three days to see if the queen has been let out of her queen-box,
There is a 'candy' plug (the white stuff) that the queen and her bee sisters eat through to make a little tunnel for the queen to escape. This is done so the queen and the workers have time to get to know each other in the new hive (accept the queen).
My favorite tool so far is the paintbrush. I can sweep the bees where I want them without hurting them or upsetting them too much.
Here is the hive on day three. The queen-box is wedged between the two frames about 3/4 the way to the far end. It is where the gap-space between the frames is connected with bees.
The queen was still in her box, but it loos like they had made good progress eating through. I will give them another day and a half and check again. When I put the queen-box back I dropped it in the bottom of the hive. I used a piece of bent wire to
retrieve it instead of putting my hand in the hive. I feel like a bit of a wimp about that but I think it was the right thing to do.
I was able to grab the little piece if wire-mesh hanging from the box with my wire. As you can see, the bees have already started making comb on it. I didn't have the heart to take it off.
Later in the day I got to see my bees kick-out a small half wasp half bee looking thing from the hive. I also got to see bees returning to the hive with pollen (pictured above). Which is impressive since not much is blooming yet.
Since Ilana is gone I took the liberty of moving this bush, which I have been wanting to transplant for about a year. It is a privacy bush to keep people on the street from seeing my bees... a modesty shrub. As you can see it is pretty big and and transplanting it might kill it, but I am glad I did it.
There is a 'candy' plug (the white stuff) that the queen and her bee sisters eat through to make a little tunnel for the queen to escape. This is done so the queen and the workers have time to get to know each other in the new hive (accept the queen).
My favorite tool so far is the paintbrush. I can sweep the bees where I want them without hurting them or upsetting them too much.
Here is the hive on day three. The queen-box is wedged between the two frames about 3/4 the way to the far end. It is where the gap-space between the frames is connected with bees.
The queen was still in her box, but it loos like they had made good progress eating through. I will give them another day and a half and check again. When I put the queen-box back I dropped it in the bottom of the hive. I used a piece of bent wire to retrieve it instead of putting my hand in the hive. I feel like a bit of a wimp about that but I think it was the right thing to do.
I was able to grab the little piece if wire-mesh hanging from the box with my wire. As you can see, the bees have already started making comb on it. I didn't have the heart to take it off.
Later in the day I got to see my bees kick-out a small half wasp half bee looking thing from the hive. I also got to see bees returning to the hive with pollen (pictured above). Which is impressive since not much is blooming yet.
Since Ilana is gone I took the liberty of moving this bush, which I have been wanting to transplant for about a year. It is a privacy bush to keep people on the street from seeing my bees... a modesty shrub. As you can see it is pretty big and and transplanting it might kill it, but I am glad I did it.
No comments:
Post a Comment