Hiving Honey Bees!!

[MastiffMomQlt]

My bees arrived yesterday. I hived them today. I've never done the hiving all on my own. I've helped my DH.

Today, I did it all! Talk about a RUSH!! LOL My beloved took pics & was right by me for moral support or if I needed him, he'd help me

I did not get stung. In fact, my bees have never stung me. I don't usually handle them, but I'm very often right next to my DH when he does.

Honey bees aren't interested in attacking people. I LOVE my bees & I think they know it

Hope you enjoy the pics

These bees came from TX and are sent through the mail. They come like this:



I am spraying them with sugar water to calm them down so I can grab the queen cage:




Then, once I have the queen cage out, I remove a cork & install 2 bent nails on which I will hang the queen cage in the hive. Then I pierce a candy which is preventing the queen's escape. By piercing the candy it will hasten the queen escaping her cage & getting into her hive.



Then I hang the queen cage in the hive:




Then dump the bees. Some onto the queen's cage & the rest into the hive:


(Here's the part I've done before)You have to CAREFULLY level out the mound of bees by GENTLY spreading them with your opened hand in the hive.



Here they are in the hive



Then (like I've been told MANY TIMES, LOL) I had to put a lid/cover on it!



That's it! Take a breather!



They help out everyone's flowers, trees & plants. The honey they produce is the best I've ever had

XO

[DouceFleur1]

Oh Wow Caren!!! Just by reading you and looking at the pictures, I can tell that you love your bees and that is why you have the best honey!!! Save some honey for me!

LOVE & HUGS

Denise

[cindyg]

That's quite a process. My grandpa used to have bees but he never let us kids anywhere near them so I now nothing of the process. I can tell that you care about your bees. How long before you have honey? And how do you manage to get the honey out of the hive? Do you do that and will you take pix of it?

[Grammy2]

Caren, thank you so much for sharing the process with us. You're right, fresh honey is the best. And I am always amazed at the different flavors.

I have seen on TV & in the paper about hives dying and the bees just up & leave. Pretty scary that is happening. some say its from pestaside (sp) or from a disease in the hive. But why?

Enjoy your bees, I really liked seeing the process

Sharon

[luv_2quilt60]

You Go Girl! My DH has bees..He keeps them down at his dads place...My DS is allergic to them and i am afraid they would get loose and he would get stung....Swarm...thats what i was trying to think of...I get itchy seeing them all together, but Love Honey.....

[1quiltinnana]

Interesting. There are lots of Bees in Texas. Would love to see the Honey from yours. Be Safe!!

[kenderosa]

CarEn- Thanks so much for sharing this whole process. I really enjoyed seeing how all this is done. That is soooo cool!

Sue

[Redsaltbox]

Very informative, thanks for sharing. You sure looked like you love what you were doing!! Did you ever read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd? If not, I think you would enjoy it.

[Quilter7]

Caren -
Thank you so much for sharing the process in pictures! It is really fascinating! Thank you for caring so much about the bees, they are more important to our food supply than many realize.

[MastiffMomQlt]

I know it sounds dumb to say, but we really do love our bees Thanks for your kind words & nice comments & good questions. It's a great hobby & the honey is such a bonus.

Cindyg--how long before we have honey is determined by the bees & floral sources. We have LOTS of floral sources on our property. Collecting & extracting the honey is quite a (sticky) process. We usually do it in the fall unless we run out of honey before then. Yes, I can take pics of that too

Grammy2--that is the question indeed. Why are the colonies dissapearing? There is no conclusive answer. It is quite an issue. At this point, we haven't lost our bees to colony colapse, but it certainly has affected the price and availability to purchase. Let's hope the great minds/naturalists/scientests can figure out what's going on & a solution as well.

Redsaltbox--I listened to that book on tape while traveling. I enjoyed it very much. Thanks