Checking the hives for the first time

Two days ago, it was time for us to check the hives for the first time. We needed to see if the queen was laying eggs. We suited up, taped up the seams and openings, put on our hats, veils and gloves and went out to the hives. Looking back, I guess maybe we did not need all of that gear, but we didn't really know what to expect and so we followed the Boy Scout motto - BEE prepared.

We decided to check my hive first, since it is in a corner. We thought that if the bees got mad, we could get out of the area and leave them all alone. But, they really didn't get mad at all. But more about that in a minute.

First I had to take off the top, then the first box, then the inner cover with the feeder on top. Rod held that, since there were bees on the bottom of it, and if we set it down on the ground, it would have squished some bees.

In the hive, this is what we saw:


There were a lot of bees on top of the frames. I took one of the end frames out, then slowly moved the frames so that I could lift out a center frame. I very slowly lifted out the center frame, and on it, there were a lot of bees. It looked like they had been drawing out the comb (I think that is what we saw). In other words, it looked like they had been working. In some of the cells there was a dark honey/brown color of stuff too. I looked for eggs, but wasn't sure what to look for. It was kind of difficult because there were so many bees all over the frame. So, I put the frame back in, and slowly reversed everything, putting it all back in place.

We then did the same thing for Rod's hive, with the same results. It was very interesting seeing the bees working, and they really did not care at all that we were moving stuff, picking some of them up on the frames. They seemed very gentle. The few that buzzed around us did not buzz at us, or act like they were mad. That is good!

After we were done, we decided we would really like to see someone else's hive, to see what we should be seeing in our hives. Rod posted on the bee club forum, and a member called and invited us to come see his hives. So we will go see and hopefully we will then know what to look for in ours. I feel like there is a lot to learn about the bees - not only their care, but about them and what they do.

So Who Knew...
I'm going to periodically add a "Bee Fact" to this blog; things I noticed, or read about. Here is the first thing that I had no idea about, but found out as soon as we picked up our bees at Beez Neez:

• Bees generate heat. The first time I picked up the bees in the box they came in, the box was very warm. After putting them in the hive, I have felt the sides of the hive box a couple of times, and it is warm too. I guess maybe they do it with their wings, I am not sure. But it is pretty amazing that something that small could make that much heat. I am going to have to check into why and how they do this. So who knew?

No Worries

So one thing I was worried about was how my dog, Echoo, would do sharing the yard with the bees. One of her favorite places to sun herself is next to the hives. I wondered if she would keep using that spot to lay in the sun, or would she "bee" afraid of the bees and stay away.

Well, the other day I let her outside. It was a sunny morning and it's nice for her to be out when it is. After awhile, I stuck my head out the door to see what she was up to. And was I surprised -- she was laying in the sun, in her spot, next to the bees. The bees were pretty active, flying in and out, up and down, around the hives. She did not look at all concerned. Here is a picture of her. See what you think.

As you can see, she has no worries. Notice her bandana matches my beehive! It will be interesting to see how she feels about the bees once they really get going and there are more of them flying around, some in her space.

The Bees Take Flight

I wasn't really sure what to expect after I did the dump and shake when I put the bees in the hive. What would I see the next morning? Would they be alive? Would I see any bees flying? Or would it just look like some purple wooden boxes sitting there?

The next morning, I peeked out the window to see if I could see anything. Unfortunately, there was a big Rhododendron bush in the way. So I snuck outside in my jammies to take a peek. On my purple-boxed hive, there were only a few bees around on the front. On the green-boxed hive (Rod's hive), there were quite a few bees around. I thought that for sure something was wrong with my hive. It was cold outside and so I decided to go in, get dressed, then come back out.

By the time I got back out, both hives had quite a few bees out. The bees were both on the front, on the landing, and flying around. They were coming and going, just like what I imagined they should be doing. I had stuffed some grass all along the front entrance, and some of that grass was now pushed away. Here is a video of what I saw and heard:

It was quite a relief to see they were out, flying, and that they were alive. Even though we took the class and the teacher talked about putting the bees in the hive, they really didn't say what to expect to see afterwards. I kind of imagined what a bee hive would be like later on, after it had been established, but had no idea what to expect at first.

I was also amazed at the amount of buzzing I heard! The bees were much louder than I thought they would be, and that was with only some of them flying. I think the buzzing will most likely get louder as more are out and about.

That first night, we decided to take the top off and see if the syrup feeders were working correctly, as well as remove the bee boxes the bees arrived in. So after all the bees were back inside the hives and it was starting to get dark, we put on our hats, veils and gloves (no suits this time) and went out to the bee yard. We lifted off the lids and it looked like the feeders were working fine. Inside Rod's top box, there was a trapped bee. He stuck out his finger, the bee climbed on, and then he lowered the bee down to near the entrance. And that bee just climbed off and went in the hive, just like he was suppose to. These bees already seem a lot smarter than I ever imagined they would be. It will be fun and interesting to watch and learn more about them as time goes on.

Hiving the girls

Last night, it was time to put the bees, or "girls," into their new home. Since there are only a few of the 20,000 bees that are male, we have been calling them the girls. There is one queen, a few drones (males) and the rest are workers, which are female. So, they are "the girls."

Before we could actually install the bees into the hives, we had to get the hives ready. We put cement blocks down, then the bottom board and the first deep box. Rod did all that, and while he was working on that, I made sugar syrup to feed the bees, and filled up the top-feeders and a squirt bottle, and carried all of that, plus the frames out to the bee area in the yard. We put ten frames into each deep box.

Once we did all that, we had to suit up! First came the coveralls I got at Napa. I tucked those into my Sorrell boots, and used packing tape around my ankles to make sure there wasn't a place a bee could sneak into. I also taped all the seams in the coveralls, as well as around my wrists. Then came the hat and veil, and the beekeeping gloves. What I sight I must have looked like. It was a good thing we were doing this inside the fenced yard - otherwise the neighbors might have been scared!

We carefully carried the bees, in their boxes, to the area in the yard where the hives were. Time to load in the bees! I went first. First I squirted the bees, still in their box, with the sugar water. This is suppose to make them more subdued and docile.

After squirting them, I gave the whole bee box a sharp rap on top of the deep box, to get all the bees to go to the bottom of the bee box. While they were there, I quickly took out the can feeder and the queen, then put the can feeder back in. They were not too happy about all of this, and were buzzing quite a bit. After getting the feeding can back in, I put the queen, in her little queen cage, into my pocket for safekeeping. I never thought I would willingly put a bee in my pocket, but that's what I did. Crazy!


Now it was time to put the girls into the hive. I quickly gave the box another sharp rap, took out the feeding can, turned the box over, and started shaking and dumping the bees onto the frames. Dump, shake, and then repeat, until as many of the bees were out as possible. All the while, I was "bee-ing" buzzed and dive-bombed by some of the bees that had decided to fly. After getting the majority of the bees out of their box and into the hive, I pried the cork out of the queen cage, held my hand down into the hive and gently shook the queen cage a bit. She came out and went into the clump of bees between the frames. I did all of this as fast as I could.

I gradually started putting the frames back in. I did this slowly so I didn't squash any bees. It took a lot of willpower not to put them back in fast since I was still being dive-bombed and buzzed. Next, I put the inner cover on, followed by the top-feeder, and another deep box.


The metal top cover went over the whole thing, and I stuffed grass in the front opening, so the bees would stay inside more and get to know their new home some before venturing out too much. They were in and I was done for now! It actually was fun. I didn't really know what to expect beforehand, but while I was messing around with all of them, it was both interesting and fun. And having all those bees around me, on me, and buzzing near my ears was not as bad as I thought it would "bee." I guess I should stop, at least for now, with all the bee puns, even though there are a lot of them I could use!

Rod was next, following all the steps I did. By the time we were both done, it was starting to get dark and the bees were in the hives for the night. Here you can see both hives, all set up and full of bees.

To Bee or Not to Bee - That was the Question

A few years ago, somewhere along the road, I saw some beehives. That might be a fun thing to do, I thought. Every time I drove past those hives, I thought the same thing, but life is busy and it never went anywhere.

Fast forward to this last February. We went to the Seattle Flower and Garden show. As we were walking through the aisles of vendors, we saw a booth with Mason bees. After talking to the people in the booth, I discovered the shop they had was located in Snohomish, the same town I live in, and -- better yet -- they were about to start a honey beekeeping class. If I wanted to be in the class, I would need to call and see if there was room.

Of course, I called. And the class was full. They put us on a waiting list and we were very disappointed not to be able to go. A few days later, the owner of the store, Jim, called and said that some people did not show so we could join the class.

So off we went to the shop, Beez Neez Apiary Supply, for our classes. The class was held for four weeks and we would learn all about bees and beekeeping. After the first class, I was ready to get some bees!

So began the process of getting ready for the bees. We decided to buy the bee hive parts, and put them together ourselves. So first we had to get the parts, then nail them together. Next was painting. I decided to paint mine purple, and Rod, my boyfriend, decided to paint his green. You can see the boxes in the back of Rod's truck.

We also had to put all the frames together and then wire them and add the wax foundation. Since we really didn't know what we were doing, and were really learning by doing, it took us awhile.

Flash forward again to April 16, 2009 when we went to pick up our bees. We went to Beez Neez and parked. In the front of the store, were about 100 boxes of bees. There was a whole lot of buzzing going on! We looked at the bees and Rachel, who works at the store, helped us pick out a couple of boxes.

While we were doing this, one little rascal decided to sting me! There I was, just minding my own beesness (sorry, I couldn't resist) and a bee flew into my neck and stung me. It didn't really hurt, more like a quick burning feeling, and I was really glad actually to get that part over with. I was kind of worried I might be allergic to bees, but since I was stung, I can forget about it.

We loaded the bees into the car, and off we went, towards home, with 20,000 honeybees in the back, making quite a loud buzz. I was driving and Rod said to make sure I didn't get into an accident - that would be something to get rear-ended and knock those 20,000 bees loose in the car. Needless to say, I drove very, very carefully. You can see the bees in the back of my car, along with Echoo's dog bed.

By the time we got back, it was starting to get dark, so we decided to hive the bees the next night. So the bees spent the night in my shed where it was protected and ventilated. We left them there, waiting until the next day to put them into their new homes.