Bee Package Pickup
Today I picked up my bee package from a local feed company, Wardle Feed. I was a little nervous of the hole process since it was my first go around picking up a package. It was extremely easy. They had a be expert on-site to confirm all the queens were alive before handing out the packages. It was similar to a drive up, we’d drive up to the tent and they’d hand us our bees. They brushed off the bees from the outside of my package and sat it inside my car. I only had one straggler bee on the ride home.
I found several videos online on installing a bee package. For the most part I followed a couple different videos. This was the first one I watched which made the process seem pretty easy and strait forward. The one step I didn’t do is spray the bees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70ODILM3qcM.
Today is supposed to be just warm enough to install the bees into the hive with rain later in the afternoon and all day for the next few days. If we got the bees a day later it would’ve been too cold and rainy to get the bees in the hive. I was in a bit of a rush to get the bees in the hive due to the weather. For future reference, I did come across this video on how to install a bee package on a rainy day or cold day from Wild Harvest Honey.
It was pretty easy to get the bees moved into the hive. I watched many videos on how to do it. To sum up the process, you remove the syrup, then the queen. Very carefully remove the cork and place a mini marshmallow in its place so the bees have to eat her way out. If you’re in a warm climate you can probably place her near the bottom of the hive, but since I’m in a colder area, I added a couple rubber bands around her hold her near the top of the frame. After she was secured on the frame, I started shaking the bees out of the box and into the hive. I removed 3 frames to create more space to drop the bees in. Once I had gotten as many bees as possible out of the box, I placed it in front of the entrance of the hive so the remaining bees could make their way into the hive. I cut one side of the screen off the box to make it easier for the bees to find their way out. Then I carefully added the 3 frames back into the box. After a couple hours I went back to check on them and they had all made their way out of the box so I removed it.
For my learning moments today, I thought I did good getting the sugar water and the queen out without letting any other bees out, but what I wish I had done was take some time to study the queen so that in the future it would make it easier to spot her. Also to take a picture of her. I was in such a rush with the wet weather coming in that it never crossed my mind. I will make sure to do this if I get another bee package in the future. The other learning moment was when adding the queen cage to the hive, next time I will place her more in the middle of the frame. Since I put her near the top of the frame, they built a bunch of comb on the bottom of her cage that I had to remove when I pulled it out a few days later. I felt bad having to remove all their hard work.
