My girls are all tucked in their houses, well most of em, some just wouldn't shake out so I put em in front of each hive. Thank goodness for all of you on the forum, I used bits & pieces of all the things read here. Had everything I would need ready, though I did have trouble with that stupid little cork & wearing gloves so I took em off while shoving the marshmallow in. Good thing I remembered that most things go "up" so she kept out of the way while I was whittling around the cork...My stepdaughter was watching, she wasn't too thrilled to be riding in the car with a couple thousand bees, there were even a couple that came along from the apiary & followed the boxes to the back yard. I had her smell the boxes, one smelled faintly like lemon, breathe on one to hear how they get mad, then spritzed em with sugar water, she was amazed at how quiet they got. She didn't freak out when there were a bunch flying about, she could see that all they wanted was to have a home, they weren't out to sting us, & even came to watch one drink sugar from my finger. I'm so "buzzed" I won't sleep...can't wait to go out in the AM to see if the stragglers made it home. The weather was perfect today, high 60's, sunny, no wind, a perfect day all around!!
Jody
Yes Jody, wasn't that one heck of an experience! ;)
...JP
I'm glad you got to share your experience with the younger generation! It was great for both of you!!
Awesome!!
I'll never forget my drive home with my first package of bees, too!!
Love, Marla
Jody, excellent about your hiving that package. BUT..... get used to not wearing gloves. You will get less annoyed bees by not wearing gloves. In my opinion, gloves are clumbsy and you can injure more bees by wearing gloves than going gloveless. If you injure a bee, guaranteed that the alarm pheromone will fly high and you will have lots of bees after ya.
I only wear gloves on the rare occasion, and I mean rare. I have only worn them about 4 times in the past 3 years that I have kept bees. Beautiful and wonderful day in this great life. Cindi
Way to go, i get the same experience next Tuesday cant wait !
Outstanding Jody :-D Getter Done !! ...........Little John_NC
Jody AWESOME!!!
I was waiting for a call or email but figured you were just going to do the install by yourself. Did you end up going with italians or did you change your mind like you thought you might do? I did my bees yesterday (Saturday) and called in "sick" for work so I could get em in while that 80 degree weather was still around. Plus my old best friend was in town and wanted to see how it all worked.
Did you take lots of pictures or video it? Gota post em!!! Cant wait to come over and check them out! Did you get stung? I got nailed three times, through my glove, one got in my shoe, and for some reason one nailed me on the back of the head a hour later while sipping ice tea in the back yard watching them with my wife and friend!
Today was a perfect day to install bees, the weather was awesome!
Did you see all the packages in the trailer at Trees N' Bees?!?!??!?!?! Man, I have dreams of trailers like that falling from the sky into my back yard!
Did you just get one package or two? I can't remember. I forgot to warn you about their queen cage corking method. It sucks! This year I remembered to bring a large fishing hook. Worked great. Did you put one or two marshmellows in? I did two last year and the queen was out in 2 days. If the weather is nice tomorrow I might let my queens out. Don't want to disturb them too much right now though.
God bless you, your family, and your new bees!!!
Sean, Amanda, & Grace Kelly
Congrats to you Jody. I got mine hived yesterday, pretty bees! Today they were doing their orientation flights...so cool!
Jody
Congrats! We installed our first two packages ten days ago, We too were on a total high after word. Nothing like it! I had to e-mail everyone...."The bees are in! The bees are in!" Slightly maniacal, forget the "slightly"...hahaha! How many hives did you start with? Our two are each different. Can't wait to build up more hives! I spent a lot of time reading posts and asking questions on this forum! Thanks guys! WOOOHOOO JODY
Syd!
I'm just itching to get in & see if the queens are out. If tomorrow is nicer I will take a peek! The binoculars are by the window so I can spy & the first thing in the morning checked to see if they were up yet. Sean, I wanted to get into the trailer & stuff boxes in my shirt, think anyone would have noticed the strange square shapes????.. :roll: Ended up getting italians, the russians weren't coming till next month & were $15 MORE EEKS! :shock: There weren't any carni's unspoken for. You musta took home the mean bees before I got there :evil: I had no stings, not even a bump!! Ya know,as the bee flies, ours are not that far apart so eventually will probably end up with Kelly/Pierce Buckley bees!! I want MORE MORE MORE!! BWAHahahahahah 1st dibbs on the alley on cedar!! The koi are in full force so bring the girls on over to feed em! They are HUGE now, even the little ones!! Take care
Jody & the Gang!
Hey Jody!
Did you see the prices of some of their equipment?!?!?! Man, it was expensive last year but I think they jacked their prices up even more! For instance, a copy of "The Hive & The Honeybee" from Dadant is $36. T&B sells it for $70 + sales tax! While I was there I picked up a capings scratcher with the Dadant logo for $10. I could have bought it from Dadant for $3! Nuts I say! But I can't complain since It's still nice to have someone local to buy stuff from, even if they double the price from Dadant.
Well now that you've got a hive going, you can do splits and get more bees!!! You want dibs on the alley on Cedar? Wow, you can have it. lol! As long as I get Rainier State School!!! You're gunna like those Italians. I don't know what the problem was with mine, but they are usually very mild tempored. I actually went out there today and took a sneak peak. Very calm, didn't care I was there. Took off the can of syrup that came with them and put on a real feeder with stuff I made with some "Honey-B-Healthy" in it. Checked the queen cages and the queen was gone in both. When you check tomorrow, make it a real quick trip. Don't smoke them either, they wont need it since they have no honey stores to gorge on anyway. And when you take the cage out, close it up and dont touch it for a week or two (besides feeding). They need the peace for a little bit to get started.
We're gunna be out of town this coming weekend (best friend is getting married) but maybe the following weekend after church we'll load up the family and stop by and see your koi, bees, and new baby chicks!!!
Awesome and congrats again!
The Kelly Family
Jody, oh that is so cool that you got your bees and you are so happy, isn't life just the best in the west!!! Have this wonderful day to enjoy as yours. Cindi