New bees

jimineycricket · May 01, 2016, 11:43:36 PM

well I picked up my first bees yesterday morning. Two nucs . Installed them in their new homes this afternoon. All went well. Better than I expected. I did spot the queen in one of the nucs

Not the other. Yes even that was better than I expected. Did I goof up doing it? Some but I and most of the bees will live.

jimmy

cao · May 01, 2016, 11:53:25 PM

Congrats. Now the fun begins.

KeyLargoBees · May 02, 2016, 07:39:49 AM

congrats :-)

GSF · May 02, 2016, 09:20:05 AM

Leave them alone for a couple of days so they'll get settled in. Then maybe check the one you didn't see the queen in. When I sell bees I verify within one or two days that the queen is there. However, it takes less than an hour before they're hanging quietly in a tree.

jimineycricket · May 02, 2016, 09:34:26 AM

I'm quite sure that hive B had a queen, even though I did not see her. Because, the remnant of bees left in the nuc box happily migrated into the hive within 30 minutes. I don't plan to mess with them for a week, and then check how much room they have.

mikecva · May 03, 2016, 12:20:42 PM

Congratulations. If you have questions, feel free to ask. We are here to help each other. -Mike

BeeMaster2 · May 03, 2016, 01:08:33 PM

Congrats Jimmy.
I recommend that you inspect your hives on alternate weeks, look at one hive this week and the other next week. That way you get to see what is happening, the real reason for your inspections and learning how to do it while they are small, and the bees are not being disturbed so much.
Jim