For the last month I’ve been telling my friends that, “The Russians are Coming.” They arrived at my house yesterday and I could hardly contain my excitement. These particular Russians are bees.
Right now I have two hives and they are filled with Caucasian and Italian bees. In general, their abdomens are lighter in color and they are particularly gentle. You can spend about a half an hour looking around in their hives, whereas the Russians are not quite as tolerant. The Russians have darker abdomens and will give you about fifteen minutes, maybe twenty, to root around in their hive, and then they lose their patience and start buzzing around to let you know that it’s time to leave…or else. That’s not pleasant for the new beekeeper. Me.
My Russian bees came via Chris Harp, my teacher aka. The Bee Whisperer and officially known as The Bee Doctor. (As always, if you’d like more information on Chris, you can find him at http://www.honeybeelives.com/). Chris received the Russians in the mail on Friday. They’d probably been packed into their little box on Wednesday and then traveled to New York in what must have felt like the middle seat in a packed plane in economy class. Needless to say, they were more than ready to see their new accommodations.
The Queen Bee is packed into a little box inside the larger bee box. Before the rest of the bees are “installed” the queen bee box is removed. She waits in her little cage until all of her workers are safely placed in the hive. Then one removes a little cork in her cage and quickly places her in the hive. The workers will have to chew out a small piece of candy in order to free her. In a couple of days, I’ll re-examine the hive to see if this happened successfully.
Our installation was not without its excitement. The queen bee box came unstapled from the big box and fell into the larger bee box. So, brave and Zen-like, Chris had to stick his hand into the box and retrieve the queen. Just so that you have the full picture (provided) and grasp the reality of the situation, Chris had to stick his arm way down into a box filled with about 10,000 bees. None of the bees thought that was a problem and Chris retrieved the queen and placed her in the hive.
Next up: I will stain a new hive with propolis and catch a swarm.
Right now I have two hives and they are filled with Caucasian and Italian bees. In general, their abdomens are lighter in color and they are particularly gentle. You can spend about a half an hour looking around in their hives, whereas the Russians are not quite as tolerant. The Russians have darker abdomens and will give you about fifteen minutes, maybe twenty, to root around in their hive, and then they lose their patience and start buzzing around to let you know that it’s time to leave…or else. That’s not pleasant for the new beekeeper. Me.
My Russian bees came via Chris Harp, my teacher aka. The Bee Whisperer and officially known as The Bee Doctor. (As always, if you’d like more information on Chris, you can find him at http://www.honeybeelives.com/). Chris received the Russians in the mail on Friday. They’d probably been packed into their little box on Wednesday and then traveled to New York in what must have felt like the middle seat in a packed plane in economy class. Needless to say, they were more than ready to see their new accommodations.
The Queen Bee is packed into a little box inside the larger bee box. Before the rest of the bees are “installed” the queen bee box is removed. She waits in her little cage until all of her workers are safely placed in the hive. Then one removes a little cork in her cage and quickly places her in the hive. The workers will have to chew out a small piece of candy in order to free her. In a couple of days, I’ll re-examine the hive to see if this happened successfully.
Our installation was not without its excitement. The queen bee box came unstapled from the big box and fell into the larger bee box. So, brave and Zen-like, Chris had to stick his hand into the box and retrieve the queen. Just so that you have the full picture (provided) and grasp the reality of the situation, Chris had to stick his arm way down into a box filled with about 10,000 bees. None of the bees thought that was a problem and Chris retrieved the queen and placed her in the hive.
Next up: I will stain a new hive with propolis and catch a swarm.
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