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Bees: Mistakes will be made (needs to be a t-shirt)



Today I got my bees, it was so exciting and I thought I was ready with equipment (yes) and knowledge (nope). 

- I wish I had made simple syrup the night before,

- I wish someone had told me about the sugar spray,

- I wish someone had mentioned having the smoker ready (just in case),

- I wish someone had explained how to hang the queen's cage,

- I wish someone had given me a heads up about using the supers to help create space

- I wish I had watched Newbee University (YouTube) and mentally walked myself through the steps before I started.

WARNING: This was such a classic Paige Event

We bought the package of bees from Rock Hill Honey Bee Farms for $155. When I was handed the package, I noticed it was a really quiet colony compared to the others and some of the bees were dead at the bottom. I was told that was normal - time will tell.

I had some tulle in the truck to keep any stray bees contained - smart move. 

Here is what happened (the real story)

  • Got home, made sure the stand was level and in an East South East facing direction
  • Made sure tools were next to the stand and ready to grab if necessary 
  • Put on my suit and put the broom where I could get it
  • Set up the Langstrroth hive and removed 3 frames
  • Removed the package cover and took out the feeder can - OK that was NOT easy - I totally had to MacGyver my way through the process - honestly it took forever and the whole time bees are escaping
  • Found the queen box, took it out and put the cover back on the box
  • Mistake: Went to the garage, found some wire and hung the cage upside down with the candy on the bottom 
  • Mistake: Hung the queen in the box (never added the cover)
  • Tapped down the bees and gently dumped them into the brooder box (the deep)
  • Mistake: Thought I was finished
  • Mistake: Watched a video and realized I didn't add the cover - plus what's a spacer?
  • Suit back on, carefully added the top and apologized to the bees
  • Mistake: After watching a different video, realized I didn't feed them 
  • Suit back on, added the inner cover then put the can of food they traveled with over the hole, added a medium super to give me some space and apologized to the bees - apologized to the bees
  • Mistakes: After watching MORE of the video, realized the queen was upside down and I didn't add MORE food, grabbed some rubber bands and found the bee feeders {filled them up with boil sugar water 1:1 - let it cool)
  • Suit back on: (1) I removed a frame from the side and put 2 rubber bands around it, then I slid the frames over and took out the queen's cage, checked her casing and put her sideways between the bands and the frame. Should have had the smoke because when I went to put her frame back - those darn bees had made bee bridges! So I brushed them down and added the queen's frame back. (2) Added the inner cover, placed the bee feeder in the middle (is it supposed to be runny like that?) and added the canned food they traveled with in a cock-eyed position so they could get to it. Finished it off with 2 medium supers and the cover - asked the bees to not hate me.
As you can see, mistakes were made but lessons were learned.

* queen cage has to be sideways because she isn't in the cage alone - there are attendants with her. If an attendant dies, the dead bee will clog the queens escape. If the cage is on its side and an attendant dies, she can walk right over it.

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