I picked up a 3-frame nucleus on Sunday morning. That's roughly 3 pounds of bees, somewhere around 12,000 winged workers and one queen. On the drive home, the sealed brood box in the back of my car, I opted for the soothing sounds of classical music to accompany their change of location. Nevertheless, it was unnerving for me knowing that only a small screen separated me from an entire would-be-angry swarm.
Once home, though, I was able to install the bees to their site, open the hive to movement, and give them an initial feeding of sugar water without any protective clothing---just a few puffs of smoke. I look forward to learning more about the bees, taking care of the queen and her ladies, and reaping the benefits of their hard work. Pollination and Honey!
4 comments:
Ohhh! How exciting! I can't wait to follow you becoming a bee keeper!
I wish I had room for bees.
I think I may go the orchard mason bee route...eventually.
Good luck! Do you have the suit and the cool hat?
Good luck with the bees, it may be worth thinking about keeping a couple more colonies, we are all finding keeping bees alive more difficult these days so other hive you can take bees and brood from is very useful.
All the best Phil
You are so brave! In the car. No nets. Wow! Yay for bees!!!
Post a Comment