Reflections

So I am amazed by the opinionated people who are part of the beekeeping community. It seems that each person is adamant that their particular method is the best. Almost fanatically so. I have spoken to one person who got angry when I mentioned that I had purchased a warre hive.
I would think that beekeepers would just be kind and encouraging rather than judgmental.  Oh well.

So it's been really cool and rainy and my bees are working away. I get a tick on me every time I go check the hive. Yuk!

I'm glad I have windows that I can look through. I just discovered that Beethinking had another slight error in manufacturing of this last windowed box.  The latch is mounted too high so I cannot remove the cover over the window. I will have to try to fix it without being stung.  Will keep you posted.

I wanted to share how cute the little queen cage is - the queen gets shipped in her own little cage, she is unable to feed herself so attendant bees care for her through the screen of the little cage. In the first package, she had workers in the cage with her.  We had to remove the cork plug, then pierce a hole in the candy plug which they then ate away to release her.  The second package was different. That queen was alone so I removed the cork with a nail, carefully as she walked away from the cork end to avoid piercing her! Then I quickly stuffed a mini marshmallow in the hole which the other bees ate to release her.  I took a dozen marshmallows with me and ate them after the job was done. They are one of my favorite foods! (Thus my love of Peeps!)

I find it fascinating how the queen has to be kept in a cage until the bees get to know her; of course in a real hive, the offspring would be her offspring and they would know her right away but in these packages, they are unrelated, so they have to develop a "relationship" so that the workers and drones will accept her. Well more bee lessons later!