Bees fed

Switched out their sugar. There was less than ⅛ cup left. Also ordered some be great to switch to a top feeder set up.

Coming and going

The bees were very busy this afternoon as the sun came out and it warmed up. There was a bunch of what looked like orientation flights. Here's the view above the hive entrance.

Keep an eye out for several laden with pollen pants in all the hustle and bustle.

Releasing the queen

Since there was no candy plug. And the cork was jammed sideways and a total disaster to get out. I put the queen cage up on top of the frames to watch, while I checked the hive.

Several frames near the queen cage had comb that was being drawn. There was sugar solution in most cells and some others with pollen.  The larger gap from the queen cage between the frames had lead to some burr comb on either side. Both pieces were empty of resources (the larger piece is on the inner cover in the pic). So I broke them off, smoothed them flat, and dropped them next to the pollen patty to be recycled. Overall looking good.

The bees continued to cluster around the queen. It looked like they were trying to feed her. Given the state of the queen cage, I popped one staple off the netting, and peeled it back gentle just above the frames. I glimpsed her red dot and then lost her in the mass of bees.

Watching the hive this afternoon, they've been crazy out by the entrance. Either they are gathering pollen, getting robbed, or hunting for a new home. I'm hoping it's just the warmer weather had made everything bloom.

Bees fed

They were running out of 1 to 1 sugar.  I switched in another 4 cup ball jar.

Hiving Experiment Result

So reading around suggests the bees move out of the package in a few days. Leaving enough time to get out and move over to the queen on the frames. And not enough to start making burr comb in the package itself.

So in I went, on a Saturday evening as it was cooling down from the mid-sixties. Two a half days after we'd dropped the package in.

The result was about half the bees had gone to the queen on the frames. The rest were still hanging out in the package. Uh oh. Now I had to do the shake and dump anyway. Plus it was a little chilly so they were all sluggish and ended up not wanting to come out. Huge pain in the neck to shake them into the hive. And to get the rest to move off the ground and sides of the hive where they'd flown.

Result was easy to hiving, but then recovering the package was a pain. Next time, I'll do it straight away.

Hiving the bees

This time we tried something a little different. Previously, we pulled a few frames and dumped them in. As seen here, here, and here.

However our local PSBA Capt sent sound an interesting approach that we decided to try. It's the #3 option on this post.

Basically, you pull out and attach the queen cage as normal. But instead of the big bee dump, you simply place the package inside the hive, and leave a few frames out. A few days later, you pull out the empty, and replace the frames.

Will report back on how this goes!

So we all suited up and headed to the hive.

And put the bees in. It was incredibly way and low stress to just drop in the package rather than dump.

Collecting the NewBees

Tonight, the kids got fries and milkshakes in the car after gymnastics. Then we trekked out to Woodinville and the foothills of the cascade mountains. Driving along the forested roads, with mansions peek out between the trees, we were in a world away (or 30 minutes) from our urban Seattle life.

Matt from Cascade Apiary meet us in his driveway. There were several dozen nucs and a whole bunch of 3lb and 4lb packages too. Night was coming on and the warm air from the sunny spring day was disappearing as quickly as the light. This meant the bees both in and out of the packages and nucs were settling in for the dark hours. The noise from the nucs was astounding, a constant exciting hum, like rain quietly rustling dry leaves.

The trailer has most of the bee's, some had already be unloaded. By a quick back of the envelop, there are still around half to three quarters of a millions bees, in the 3lb packages, 4lb packages, and nucs shown below.

Our bees, before being loaded into the trunk for the drive home. 

Bee food - check

Making a one to one sugar solution for the bees that arrive tomorrow. This is 4qt of water and 16 cups of sugar. And results in ~6.5qts after boiling. Hopefully this will encourage the package to Chow down and stay. And also stimulate drawing or comb on the frames.

Hive prep Part 2

On a rainy day with the family visiting, the 4yo and her cousin helped paint the hives.