I thought I would post some pictures of one of my other hobbies. This is my second year beekeeping, but unfortunately the late season swarm I was given last year didn't survive the winter. This year I ordered two packages of Italian honey bees from California (my association gets them for the beginners in the spring, so I don't know exactly where they were raised).
Here are some pictures of me hiving my second package into a top bar hive, the other hive behind me is a langstroth with western boxes. It's also the first time I'd ever used a full suit, and I have to say it really wasn't necessary as these bees were surprisingly docile the during the whole process.
Removing the can of sugar water.
I'm holding the little cage that has the queen in it, and putting a mini marshmallow in the opening so the bees can slowly eat their way through to her.
Pouring bees, it sounds like a bad idea but they didn't seem to mind much.
Result =)
Clustering around their queen.
This was a few days ago, and I'm actually going to go out and inspect the hives after I post this. I'll take pictures if there's anything interesting happening =)
Here are some pictures of me hiving my second package into a top bar hive, the other hive behind me is a langstroth with western boxes. It's also the first time I'd ever used a full suit, and I have to say it really wasn't necessary as these bees were surprisingly docile the during the whole process.
Removing the can of sugar water.
I'm holding the little cage that has the queen in it, and putting a mini marshmallow in the opening so the bees can slowly eat their way through to her.
Pouring bees, it sounds like a bad idea but they didn't seem to mind much.
Result =)
Clustering around their queen.
This was a few days ago, and I'm actually going to go out and inspect the hives after I post this. I'll take pictures if there's anything interesting happening =)