Introducing The Bees to The Hive

Last night after getting off work I began a two hour drive to the Village Tavern in Waldo, Ohio to pick up my bees. Yes, the Apiarist I purchased the bees from also owns a bar. I pre-ordered the bees from George Taylor of Waldo Ohio Apiaries. Thanks to my friend Milo for telling me about him. I look forward to doing more business with George in the future.

After I got the bees home last night I put them on my work bench in the garage where they would spend the night. In the morning I had to finish the hive and finish clearing the area where the hive will hopefully spend many years sitting as a home to honey bees. Our property sits on flat old farmland and we are void of many mature trees, however, at the far corner of our property line sits a few old cherry trees and some tall mature bushes. I decided that this would be the ideal place for the bees; the cherry trees should provide some of the earliest blossoms and pollen, and their spanning branches should provide excellent shade throughout the hottest days of summer. After I leveled out the ground I placed two columns of concrete construction blocks to be my support for the top bar hive(tbh).

Once I had the hive ready to go I began to introduce the bees to their new home. In order to do this I sprayed the bee cage down with sugar syrup. This helps to calm the bees, gives them something to eat, and dampens their wings to reduce their ability to fly. After spraying down the cage I bumped the cage against the ground to get the bees to fall to the bottom. I then began to pry open the lid in order to reveal the queen's cage. Once the lid is open I discovered a metal tab that I bent up and pulled out her cage. You'll notice there are other bees with her in the cage, sometimes this done to provide the queen with extra warmth. There is a cork in the queen's cage that must be removed and then replaced with either candy or a midget marshmallow; I went with the marshmallow for mine.

With the cage removed and the hole plugged with the marshmallow, I chose to suspend the queens cage to a top bar using some wire. I suspect that if I were to examine the hive right now the other bees would again be balled around the queen's cage. Once I had her suspended I replaced the bar in the hive. The queen will eat her way out of the cage within the next few days and begin laying eggs in the brood comb soon.

After placing the queen in the hive it was time for the other bees to move into their new home. We had some windy conditions today with gusts up to 20 plus miles per hour. Because of this I decided to use an indirect method of introduction. Instead of shaking the bees in I decided to just place the cage in the hive and allow them to escape from the exit in the hole left by the queen's cage. You can see in the picture that they already started to find their way out. After this I began to replace all the top bars and I put the lid back on. I will observe the hive from a distance tomorrow and will wait a few days before I open the lid to check on the queen's progress. Next time I open the lid I will remove the cage and the queen's cage, if possible. I look forward to working with these bees for the remainder of the year and hope that I have luck with honey production.