Hopefully this time the bees will make it through the winter!
Jared used the tractor to carry the cinder blocks from one side of the yard to the other.
Good thing we have a tractor.
Jared and I made a flat spot on the other side of the shed than where they were last year. Jared and Emily thought they would be better protected in that area.
Alec brought the bees and decided to do it at first without the suit...
There they are with the queen cage.
Right after this picture, Alec put the suit on cuz it was understandably a little scary with the bees flying around. Then the queen escaped before they could put the marshmellow in for the other bees to eat through as they got used to her... Emily acted quickly and scooped her up off of my shirt before she flew away and put her in the hive. She said she was telling herself that queens don't sting, queens don't sting!
Good thing she had just read a blog that said that if the bees didn't like her they would kill her regardless of when they got her out...
Alec dumped the rest of the bees in with Ems spraying them with sugar water...
Then he put the frames in.
Since our bees died before they ate their stores, Emily and Alec decided to put a couple full frames in along with some empty ones. We know the bees put them right to use because it turned rather cold after this and they stayed huddled together to keep their brood warm. They stayed inside during the cold days but have been flying once it warmed back up.
Sad story, after this Alec took off his bee suit and we were standing around watching them settle down and a bee got behind Alec's glasses, panicked, and stung him on his lower eyelid! Poor guy. Alec went inside and got the stinger out with tweezers so hopefully it wasn't that bad. The next week he came for dinner and I didn't notice any swelling :).
This time they are already starting ahead so hopefully we can keep them happy during the summer, enough so they can survive the next winter!
1 comment:
Glad the bees are happy. Hope you get lots of honey and that no other bees or bugs bother them! Need more goat baby pictures!!
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