Bees Arrive

We have bees! A six hour round trip with a great friend for moral support and we arrived home at midnight. By the time the bees had been set in place by torchlight it was 2am!

In two days time I will have to open the hive, my first time ever, it will be terrifying and magnificent all at once (I refrained from saying it will be a major 'buzz'!).

I'm told that I need to get the 'super' on the hive at the first sight of blackberry blossom (saw some today), as this indicates the start of  the major honey flow. A super is the section of hive which contains frames onto which the workers can build comb and store their honey, but a queen excluder prevents the queen from going up into it and laying eggs. She is kept below the 'super' section, in the 'brood body'. If you don't get the 'super' on in time, the bees may not have enough space for storing honey, and then they are in danger of swarming to find a new site with more space. If they swarm ... there go your bees, and your honey. Being a bee keeper is largely about providing them with the space to lay brood, the space to store honey, and  a new hive if the colony gets so large it needs to be split before it swarms itself. There, thats about the limit of my bee knowledge at the moment, which all book based rather than experience, and is a drop in the fascinating honey ocean.

Comments

[kaat at Mamastories]

Bees! You are so good!
You'll have to let us know many, many details about their habits and work. The bit about the "brood body" is fascinating. THEY are fascinating. A good friend of ours studies their sleep patterns and his video footage is amazing.
O, did you get an allergy test in the end?
Could you draw us a map of your farm? I'd love to see it all laid out...

[Jane]

Bees are on my mental list (with pigs) but I haven't been quite brave enough yet.

My Dad kept bees and I can't remember it being that difficult - we used to travel with them in a buzzing boot for their regular dose of heather.

J
x

[Mel Rimmer]

I'm really jealous! I'm trying to get some bees at the moment, but the ones I've been offered are a 2-hour drive away and in a WBC hive, which are supposed to be harder to move than the National hives you have. I'm still trying to get some advice about it. I'll be reading avidly to see how you get on with them.

[Deborah]

You are truly amazing! I don't know HOW you do it all! Will we be able to get mail order honey soon? ;-)

[Uschi]

Welcome to the beekeeper-world, Rebecca!!! Have tons of fun with them!!!
@Jane: Relax!! The difficulty in beekeeping often is, not to do too much!! The first hive, my husband had got years ago was killed by watching the bees too frequently.......

[Simon]

Good luck with the bees. I used to keep bees years ago, and that was in England, before Varroa. Where do you go for beekeeping equipment over here?

Oh, and although all the books talk about the effect of the smoke on the bees, my experience was that the smoker is best for hiding your scent from them -- which means it is best to use it on you, not them. The human-smell that most upsets bees is breath, so don't blow on them.