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last minute jobs
I had a little helper today as I added some finishing touches to my brood chambers. He helped me hammer the frame rests into place. Hopefully that will be the last job, other than heading out to Fertile Ground CSA to set up the boxes tomorrow morning before I pick up my nucs! Yes, tomorrow is the day – I will become the proud owner of 2 nucs of bees. Wish me luck!.
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many hands
I now have painted hives, thanks to my two helpers!.
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power tools
I spent some time tonight putting together my two brood chambers – it’s getting there! The gaps are for the frames that will come with the nucs. There will be a queen, 3 frames of brood, and lots of worker bees in each nuc package.
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some assembly required
It’s time to start putting the hives together – the bees could come anytime after this weekend!
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watch and learn
I was able to hitch a ride with an experienced beekeeper today, as he went to check on his bees. Here’s what I learned, in order of importance: 1. If a bee stings you, scrape off the stinger and put a penny on the spot with duct tape. I swear it works. Normally I would have swelling but there’s absolutely none from the sting I got today. Before the penny was put on, I could feel it starting to swell into my thumb and wrist (sting was top of my hand/base of thumb). After the penny went on, the swelling went down and you can’t even see it now. 2.…
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future bee yard
Last Wednesday I visited Fertile Ground CSA to check out possible bee hive locations, and the trip was a success! We found a great spot to put the 2 hives that should keep them happy. Many thanks to Angie and Mark for allowing me to borrow some real estate for the bees.
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big plans
After researching honeybees for approximately a year, and taking a course from the University of Guelph to see if I could handle working with them, I’ve decided to buy my first two nucs, or sets of bees. They’ll be ready for me sometime after June 7, so in the meantime I’m getting my supplies and bee yard ready. No turning back now….