5/3/11

Bees for Summer


LA Backwards Beekeeper Summer writes:
I just had a great time with Kirk putting my nuc hive into its permanent hive! I wanted to share some pictures and the story.



Kirk and I went to get a beehive from a bird house in Del Mar.

We brought the entire birdhouse back to my sponsor's yard, but when we opened up the birdhouse, all the bees were dead! We came to the conclusion the bees were probably poisoned before we picked them up.




Poor little bees.

However, all was not lost. Kirk got a call the following week about a beehive in a BBQ! He cut out the hive and delivered it to me.



Here are the girls after I brought them to their new home.


I put a triangle in the top like Kirk instructed, and lifted it up so the bees can get out and get used to their new home.

A week later, I checked up on them.




Beautiful ladies. They were doing so well! My hive is the one on the left, and Kirk's hive is on the right.

So today, Kirk and I went and put my bees into their new home.


My smoker's in the galvanized bucket. All the better not to burn up 1/2 of the hills, my dear.


Ready to go!!!




The bees are doing so well, and there was some brood on their comb!


You can see the comb is tied in to the frames, and the bees had already started to chew the string away.


We dumped the rest of the bees in the box and let them settle down before putting on the top board and letting them relax in their spacious new home.

I called and left a message detailing my adventure - I called twice because it cut out the first time, but I think I got most of it in on the second call. I called from a Google Voice line too, and it cut out a little over 2 minutes both times. I'd love it if you could post this on Backwards Beekeepers blog, and if you want larger pics, all my albums are here:

Birdbox; BBQ Bees; Home Sweet Home

—Summer