After lots and lots of research, taking a beekeeping class, and ordering the bees from a local beekeeper (Foley’s Russian Bees) to be shipped to IA from Chico, CA the girls arrived the end of April to be installed into their hives.
In true Kelsey fashion we had a Bee Day Welcoming party on the day we installed them all into the hives. Honey decorations, food, drinks, and games made the whole experience super lively and fun!
This whole installing hives was a little peculiar to me but no matter, Youtube videos were are great help in the process! I also truly recommend to anybody who wants to be a beekeeper to take a class. It will be a life saver. Having multiple hands help in the process makes installing hives go way smoother.
Below see the process of installing the queen and bees into their hives.
The packages after being transported in our truck to the farm.
Bee Sugar Cookies
The Helpers
The Bees in their Packages
To install bees in hive: first spray bees with sugar water to distract them
Remove the canister of sugar syrup feed
Carefully remove queen box without other bees following
Replace cork in queen box with mini marshmallow
The mini marshmallow allows the bees time to accept the queen in the box as theirs.
The queen eats through her side of the marshmallow while the workers eat through the other side until the queen is released.
Attach the queen to a frame.
Empty bees into hive over the queen. This allows the bees to be able to smell the hormones of the queen when first entering the hive.
Replace the rest of the frames into the hives.
Give them sugar water since there is not much flourishing in April for the bees to collect nectar from.
Good work done!
Honey Cupcakes
