Monday, April 25, 2011

Bar Top Hive Installation


The bee's have arrived. After a wet start to the morning, we had two inches of snow on the ground, we picked up are bee's and headed home to install them in their new homes. My son helped me install the first hive. We used water with a smidge of sugar in a spray bottle to settle them. My son gently misted them. I first removed the feeder can and slid the queen cage from the box. The queen was in good condition. I next placed the queen cage between the top bars and sqeezed them together. The bee's began to immediately cluster around the queen.


Next I shook the rest of the bee's into the hive.



The last step was to close the hive up. My son and I carefully put each bar in place, careful not to squish any of our new friends, closing the hive up to the outside world. Inside I placed a mason jar feeder with a sugar syrup mix to give the bee's a little extra until the first necter flush takes place. No stings this time, we went slow as to not upset them, but I think I'll continue using the jacket and veil for sometime.

We spent some time watching after the installation, my husband commented that now we have two TV channels, Chicken TV and Bee TV, to watch now. LOL!

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