With sweaty palms, a stomach full of butterflies and trepidation knocking my knees together, I attempted my very first hive installation yesterday. I read and reread the process from three different books and trust me, it was more of a stall tactic than preparedness but when push came to shove, I was organized and ready, if not raring, to go.
The evening before, the Artist and I drove a few concessions over from the old farmhouse at the appointed rendezvous time of 9pm, as assigned by the beekeeper's wife to bring our babies home. When we arrived we quickly realized their property was cloaked with more mosquitoes than bees so our conversations were brief and clipped with swats to the left, swats to the right, and swats up and all around. It may have looked like we were doing the Macarena. Quite possibly. When I asked him if I should install the hive when I got home, he stared at me with disbelief for about three seconds before shouting "No, no, they'll eat you alive!" So you can see why I was a little hesitant when it actually came time to do the deed.
The photo above shows the basic hive, which right now is just the brood box, where the queen lays the eggs or brood, and resting on it is the nuc box, where the bees spent their first night at the old farmhouse.
For the past two years I've pictured a cute white beehive sitting across the pond, but after some discussions at the beekeeping course, I attended, about paints, chemicals and future legal requirements for hives, I decided to go as natural as I could and put a few coats of linseed oil on all the outer surfaces, which was much easier and faster than painting, although it will likely require more upkeep. Once the smoker remained lit, which was a feat itself, it was time to open the nuc box.
The bees started coming out in droves, and their constant buzzing was much louder than I expected but they weren't aggressive and I felt completely relaxed around them. Being covered from head to toe, may have had a little something to do with that. Or a lot.
My main goal was to transfer them to the new hive as quickly as possible without squishing any of the bees. It's recommended that the frames remain in the same order in the hive as they were in the nuc box. I also wanted to check for the queen. I'm fairly certain that I found her on the second frame, but it's not easy finding her and my experience is more than limited leaving me to second guess myself. Time will quickly tell in the meantime my fingers are crossed tightly.
Once the the frames were nestled in the new home, I set up a jar feeder to provide the bees a sugar-water feed. It's important that they have enough food to build up new comb on the new frames and there isn't always enough pollen to ensure they will have enough.
Quite a few bees remained in the nuc box, much more than I expected. I hated to leave them outside the hive but most sources recommend just leaving the box nearby and the bees will eventually make their way over to their new home. Sure enough, by the next morning, all but one had made her way over. I ceremoniously delivered the last one on my bee brush, gently dropping her off on the landing board and watched as she quickly scurried into the hive. It was then that I considered how odd it seems that these wild animals are relying on me for their survival.
After two days, they have depleted two thirds of the sugar water mixture and they're bringing in pollen. It's a treat to watch them coming and going, laden with pollen. The landing board today looked busier than Toronto airport and no air traffic controllers were needed!
~Bee well friends!~
