The Bees Are Here!

I'll be posting a couple of updates in quick succession, the first about the bees themselves, and the second about my garden. This weekend was abuzz with activity! (Oh yes, I went there.)

We spent all of Friday preparing my backyard into what Kat calls my "urban micro farm." Mostly this was work on planting and drip systems, but kindly, Kat's intern Michael helped put together the last of the cleats on my top bar frames to make it easier to direct where the bees should build comb.

Terra walking out of
the cooler amidst
the swarm

our two 3# packages
of bees! their faces
were so cute poking
out the holes!

Once we had things well underway, however, the time to go pick up the bees was nigh. Kat drove myself, Charey and Michael to Hay's Honey and Apple Farm in Bosque Farms to pick up the two packages of bees from Craig! It was quite an experience wandering into the cooler with Craig, the bees buzzing around. Such a wonderful sound, and I love have honeybees landing on my body and crawling around.

When we had the packages, we left for Sunflower River as a first stop on putting bees in their hives. I was quite nervous. This was my first time handling a package of bees, and I was so intent on getting it right. I read and re-read the class booklet from last year's Certified Beekeeper course on putting packages in a Langstroth Hive, and then I took a deep breath and just did it. We put the bees in the shade while we collected all the things, placing the hive on the back of the property while Jenny, one of the Sunflower River stewards, made the 1:4 part sugar-water mixture to feed them. We started the smoker -- well, Kat started the smoker, as I'm not good at fire-building. I probably will be soon, though. Then we put some honey on the frame cleats, I suited up, and we went to work.

shaking bees into the hive

The book was wrong. Or, at least, it didn't go as planned. I kept telling myself that it was just a guide and the bees would do what was best for them with the queen inside and a feeder around. Still, it was a frustrating first attempt. As instructed in the book, I bounced the package downward onto my hands a few times to get the bees to the bottom of the package. Unfortunately, the package was too small and all it did was piss them off. Next, I had to get enough bees out to get to the queen, whom I had to place while the bees were zooming around, rather than placing her first. To watch that process, which is kind of cool, Kat got a video here. Unfortunately, she stopped filming because a really angry bee stung her right on top of her head. The next time I looked up, the three of them were all the way across the field.

battle royale at the beeyard! The Beekeeper versus Skeletor!

Once I had the bees out and the queen placed, I put the hive back together. Which was the biggest fail, as we had forgotten the hive cover. I shouted back to them to go get it and Kat said, "You didn't have us make one." That stopped me dead and I fretted. Fortunately, the old one, which had broken on one side, was in the compost. So they went back to get it and repair it quickly while I stayed there. With angry bees pelting themselves off my veil. It took a good fifteen minutes for them to fix it and I slowly placed it on top, and then Michael came back and we had a major battle! Actually, it just looks like that from the picture...he was very helpful in handing me things as we were getting things done. Then it was time to place the feeder -- no problem -- and the entrance reducer...crap.

The entrance reducer wasn't long enough, and too thick, to be functional. After some fretting, and accidentally killing a couple of bees, we went back and got some fabric and stuffed it gently into the entrance in order to make it smaller and more defensible. On Tuesday I would return and Tristan, another SR steward and the one who wants to learn how to keep the bees, will figure out another more permanent solution.

Dispirited but holding it together, we packed everything up and left to come back to my house, the Source. Michael stayed, and so it was just Kat, Charey and I. Part of our adventure continued on an uneven path when we exited the freeway and the bee package in the back of the truck tipped. We pulled over and I went into the back to find the feeder can had come out and bees were starting to come out into the cab. I quickly righted it and replaced the can, accidentally crushing a few of the girls along the way. Shoring it up, we continued the last couple miles to home and I took them -- and the swarm of a hundred bees we had in the back seat following me -- into a spot of shade.

replacing the bars...
and being aware of
the crack in the wall
behind the hive

Thankfully, things went better after that. I decided not to shake the girls anymore and just get them out into the top-bar hive and grab the queen, and then put everything back together. It went quickly and well, these ladies quite content to just do their thing and explore their new home. I shook the bees out into the back of the hive (video here), lodged the queen cage between a couple bars at the entrance, placed feeding can on a couple sticks in the back, and then started replacing the bars. I was very careful and didn't kill any more bees, working slowly and carefully. They were all very happy and inquisitive, and we watched for a while until they started using the entrance, and then we left them alone.

they found the entrance!

This called for a milkshake, which we promptly went to the 66 Diner for, before collapsing into a hot tub on the farm after 12 hours of work and adrenaline.

I checked both hives, from a short distance, Saturday morning. The SR bees were going just fine, a lot calmer, and were doing orienting flights. They needed more sugar water, which Tristan did that evening. At my house, the Source hive was happy and doing the same, and I soon felt much better. I will see them on Tuesday afternoon to check on the queen and place a marshmallow on the cage for her to slowly release into her new hive!