its almost time

vermmy35 · April 18, 2009, 12:02:18 PM

It's killing me the bees will be here in 10 days and counting God I can't wait :-D

JP · April 18, 2009, 12:11:18 PM

Wonderful! You have everything ready for them? What's your set up gonna be? Mediums, deep and mediums, deeps?

What type foundation, if any?

...JP

vermmy35 · April 18, 2009, 03:19:53 PM

Well I have 2 deeps that me and my son put together a few weeks ago. all the frames are done and the foundation is wired wax. We will use a top hive feeder so as not to bug the girls when feeding them sugar water and also going with a SBB after the get here I will take pix or as my wife loves to say she will take pix of me getting stung. :evil: oh and they are Carniolan's since I live in the city needed something that can take the Chicago winters and gentle

fermentedhiker · April 18, 2009, 03:44:07 PM

Quote from: vermmy35 on April 18, 2009, 12:02:18 PM
It's killing me the bees will be here in 10 days and counting God I can't wait :-D

I know what you mean. I was supposed to pick mine up on the 11th but they have been delayed. Assuming no new delays I'll be driving down to pick 'em up in 7 days. The wait is killing me :-P

contactme_11 · April 18, 2009, 04:56:04 PM

Quote from: fermentedhiker on April 18, 2009, 03:44:07 PM
I know what you mean. I was supposed to pick mine up on the 11th but they have been delayed. Assuming no new delays I'll be driving down to pick 'em up in 7 days. The wait is killing me :-P

Same here. Where you picking yours up from?

fermentedhiker · April 18, 2009, 05:06:20 PM

Warm Colors Apiary. They're Russians.

JP · April 18, 2009, 05:10:36 PM

So you are waiting for two packages? What will you be going with for your brood chamber? One deep and a medium, or two deeps?

What about honey supers, you have them ready to go?

...JP

vermmy35 · April 18, 2009, 05:17:53 PM

for the brood its 2 deeps ready to go and I have one med. honey super ready to go, I will probably order 2 or 3 med. honey supers in about a month. I am only getting the one package this year if it really takes of I will place another next year or maybe 2 more hives next year either way the wife wants me to work with one for now.

JP · April 18, 2009, 05:23:53 PM

Ok, good. Its always good to stay ahead of them, because before you know it, they are moving along but so is life and you want to be able to keep up with them.

Having what you will need, handy, is the best way to go and it sounds like you are planning things out well in advance.

Best of luck and document the event, you will not regret it. Yrs later you can look at the pictures when you installed your first bees and the pictures help bring back all those wonderful memories.

...JP

fermentedhiker · April 18, 2009, 05:27:28 PM

Not sure if you were asking me JP, but I'll answer anyways. I'm getting 1 package of Russians from Warm Colors and having 1 package of Caucasians shipped from Long Creek near the end of May. I'm using a deep and 1 or two mediums for the brood chamber. The supers are built and primed, I just have to paint them. I'm experimenting a bit with foundation. The deeps have Peirco plastic in postions 1 and 10 with a drone frame in 9, the rest are HSC. The mediums are very similar pierco in 1 and 10 a homemade drone frame in 9 and the rest are either small cell or foundationless.

I also found a solution to a problem I had because of last years hive being a deadout and I had already ordered a queen from Taber's to replace the old one. She's a russianXcarnie cross. I wasn't sure what to do as none of the local beeks would consider selling me even a single frame of bees-n-brood this early. But a friend who I caught a swarm for(he found it) and I worked out a deal. He going to make and sell me a nuc from that swarm using my queen. Aren't friends great :-D

So if all goes well it'll be three hives this summer.

oops, now I see you were asking Vermmy35

contactme_11 · April 18, 2009, 05:34:03 PM

Quote from: fermentedhiker on April 18, 2009, 05:06:20 PM
Warm Colors Apiary. They're Russians.

Funny. Me too, except I'm getting italians. Maybe I'll see you there.

fermentedhiker · April 18, 2009, 05:36:56 PM

Funny. Me too, except I'm getting italians. Maybe I'll see you there.
[/quote]

That'd be nice.

Natalie · April 18, 2009, 07:43:00 PM

I ordered nucs from Warm Colors Apiary, they have their own stock carni/russian crosses, but I have to wait even longer for them than you guys because you can get packages sooner from there.
I got 2 other nucs of russians last week though from someone else so the wait is not as bad as it would be if I didn't have any bees at all.
Good luck with them. :)

fermentedhiker · April 18, 2009, 08:09:42 PM

Quote from: Natalie on April 18, 2009, 07:43:00 PM
I ordered nucs from Warm Colors Apiary, they have their own stock carni/russian crosses, but I have to wait even longer for them than you guys because you can get packages sooner from there.
I got 2 other nucs of russians last week though from someone else so the wait is not as bad as it would be if I didn't have any bees at all.
Good luck with them. :)

Thanks, let me know how your russians work out. Warm Colors get their packages from Georgia which is why they are available earlier than their own stock. I'll be looking forward to your impressions of their hybrid survivors. I was thinking of using them as a source for Northern bred queens to requeen hives in the future.

Natalie · April 18, 2009, 09:23:18 PM

I will definitely let you know. All of my nucs that I ordered this year are from what the producers say are survivor stock.
I wanted overwintered stock from New England or states with similar winters.
I got some from Anarchy Apiaries in New York too. Sam Comfort is an interesting fellow, somewhat of a philosophical beekeeper and has some amazing stock from all over.
He is also a commerical topbar hive beekeeper.
He takes survivor stock and some genetically desireable queens from different parts of the country and breeds them all at his apiary.
I am really looking forward to getting some of his bees in a couple of weeks.

vermmy35 · April 24, 2009, 01:05:00 AM

well 4 more days and the suspense is killing me :evil: