Calling All Beekeepers!

[Mewcycle]

Do you mean coming in on the bees? I haven't sat and observed them much yet, but plan to do so soon, maybe this evening. This is our second batch of bees and I hope they don't all-out abandon hive like last year!

Yes, look for little bundles of yellow or sometimes red or white pollen on their little bees knees.

 

[PioneerChicks]

Yes, look for little bundles of yellow or sometimes red or white pollen on their little bees knees.

I had a few spare minutes in between evening chicken chores, and yes, a few bees had pollen in their pollen baskets! Only a few that I saw had pollen, but a lot of them seemed to fly and land heavily as if they were full of honey. I'm not sure if that's a thing or just my wishful thinking

 

[Mewcycle]

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I had a few spare minutes in between evening chicken chores, and yes, a few bees had pollen in their pollen baskets! Only a few that I saw had pollen, but a lot of them seemed to fly and land heavily as if they were full of honey. I'm not sure if that's a thing or just my wishful thinking

Those heavy ones are carrying nectar or water! Good eye! I keep a birdbath for the bees so they won’t have to go far to find water. I live on the top of a hill. Not a lot of water up here.

 

[CLSranch]

The bee's are at the post office. I'll be installing them soon and the weather is nice. 60f right now with mid 70's for the high, with the rain ending last night.

 

[CLSranch]

 

[Mewcycle]

View attachment 2641367View attachment 2641371View attachment 2641373

I noticed quite a few dead in the bottom of the package. Just curious if two things.

1) how long were they in the mail?
2) did you dump them into the hive?

I ask because my most recent 4 packages came from Georgia to Texas and were in the mail for 5 days. I did the dump into hive and later wished I hadn’t. I ended up the next day scooping handful after handful of dead smelly bees from the bottom. It was just too much for the cleanup crew to handle AND build out comb. That was almost 2 weeks ago so we are still holding our breath that they start hatching workers in the next week or 2.
Tomorrow, I’ll be helping a friend who got bees from the same outfit. I plan to not dump but scoop a couple handfuls of live bees and place them on the queen cage (you can also dip the cage, after exposing the candy end, to get them to latch on). Then I will leave the open package in the hive (top bar hive loads of space) and close it up. Next day, just pull the package from the backside of the hive. I’ve used this method once before and I can’t believe I forgot about it!

 

[CLSranch]

I noticed quite a few dead in the bottom of the package. Just curious if two things.

1) how long were they in the mail?
2) did you dump them into the hive?

One of the packages had a few more on the bottom than the other. Not sure if it is the one with more on the bottom or not. That pic is after I sprayed them and tapped a few down then thought Oh yea no wife, take a pic.
1. 4 days including today. Mon-Thur from GA.
2. Yes. I thought about the dead bee's being a problem, but this is my first package install. So I went with what I researched.

 

[CLSranch]

I took pics of them right out of the car but in a dark garage. The one with more did not have a solid layer on the bottom but almost.

 

[CLSranch]

The wife has a better camera. This one you can see all the dead bee's better.

Looks about the same.

 

[Mewcycle]

The wife has a better camera. This one you can see all the dead bee's better.
View attachment 2641638
Looks about the same.

Oh yeah! That’s much better than what I got. I’m sure you will be fine. They wil haul those DB’s out by the time you remove the queen cage. Nice work!