Our first beehive of the year has arrived!
The bee connoisseur, my mother, has done extensive research and has formerly worked with our first beehive living in the city. Thankful our neighbors are no longer five feet away, our bees have full roaming ability.
May is a late month to receive our bees. We'll have to make sure the hive has plenty of food in the colder months.
May is a late month to receive our bees. We'll have to make sure the hive has plenty of food in the colder months.
The beehives are shipped wrapped in clear plastic. You can either remove the plastic in the beginning, just before setting up, or do as we did, and arrange the hive in the proper order and then remove the plastic. It's a very easy and quick job, so it's best that you leave the plastic on the hive if you aren't going to assemble in the next couple of days.
Place your hive on something elevated and extremely sturdy. Be sure your hive has a clear path for flight. Once they find their flight path they will use this path from now on... so make sure you won't be disturbing or blocking this path. A bit of shade is also helpful, as you can see on the right side of the hive.
Leveling is a must! Make sure your hive is accurately leveled. This is a job to perform before you ever receive your bees, or at least before you place your bees in the hive.
The bees have arrived! This small wooden box contains around 9,000 bees. The only thing keeping the bees in is the surrounding fine, wire mesh... one of the reasons the mail-lady no longer delivers these bee-boxes by hand. My mom is all suited up, and ready to place these little insects in their new hive.
The removing of a couple of frames aids in getting the queen bee inside the hive. A typical hive consists of 10 frames, but it is said that honey production increases by a good rate if one frame is left out. We only have 9 frames in our hive.
Before opening the box, spray the wire mesh with sweetened water. This gives the bees something tasty to focus on, but more importantly, the sticky sugar wets their legs and wings so it's easier to get them in their new hive. You just about can't spray the bees with too much sweet water. It's time to open up the box and remove the canister filled with sweetened water (nectar), and to remove the queen bee from her "holding cell." So, begin by popping the wooden slat off.
The small wire mesh that sticks up from the canister is the flap hooked to the holding cell where the queen bee resides. It is ever so important to make sure the queen bee is among your shipped bees. It's time to lift the can from the box.
Only nectar is inside the canister, which fed the bees in their shipping process. But once the can has been removed the bees are free to fly, although the sweet, sticky water will prevent them from doing too much!
The beekeeper holds the small cell in which the queen bee resides. Many bees are still hanging from the cell, most likely protecting their beloved queen, and trying to lick the sweet water from their bodies.
The bees are dumped into the hive by shaking the box with the mouth facing down toward the frames, lightly banging the bottom of the box on the grass, shaking the leftover bees into the hive again, and so forth, until almost all of the bees are out of the shipping container and into the hive. The cell in which the queen is held is also placed inside the hive, between two frames. Typically, the bees will eat away at the candied cell to release their beloved queen. Ours however, did not (perhaps from so much sweet water that had been sprayed onto them), and so we simply popped the opening to release the queen.
Once the frames are in place the next section is positioned on top, the feeding container. Our buckets of nectar (sweetened water) are poured into both sides of the feeding compartment. Small, wire mesh (much like what was on the outside of the traveling box) is positioned in the middle, to separate the nectar into two containers. The bees fly up from their frames to the inside of the wire mesh to feed on the sweet water. The feeding compartments must stay full until the bees are making enough of their own honey to survive.
Some eager bees will accidentally get into the nectar, you can scoop them out with your tool, though the time spent getting them out may only prevent more free bees to land in the pool of nectar. Once all the sweet water is poured into the feeding troughs, it's time to place the top back onto the hive.
The task is complete, and the bees are happy in their new home. The entrance is the small green-looking wood. As seen in the picture, there is a small entrance and a large entrance. You can close one or the other, depending on how much action is going on in the front. The few bees remaining in the traveling box need to find their way to the hive. Just leave the box on the ground near the hive, with the mouth facing up, and all the bees will find their way to the new home.
The bees are happy, and so we leave them to explore their new home, and hunt for flowers and water on their own. The bee's feeding container is no longer needed now that their feeding trough is filled and so it's time to give Belle a special treat! The tiny hole in the nectar container lets out a small dribble of sweet water, which Belle consumes quickly. She too gets a treat, and one she couldn't keep her tongue from.
