Introducing the Glory Bees!

On Friday, April 6 the church bees were installed in their new hive on the north side of the pond. They were purchased from Bailey Bee Supply in Hillsborough, but were raised in Georgia. They are currently in one hive box, but as their numbers grow, so will their hive. Eventually, we will add another box on top, and during the honey flow (April-June) we will add honey "supers" in the future. These bees are lucky - they moved into a turnkey home! All the comb that was purchased has already been drawn out, meaning they can start raising brood and storing honey and pollen in the cells from the start. Ordinarily, you would start bees on bare foundation, and they would have to create the wax to build the cells out themselves.

Once the queen was placed in the hive in her cage, the rest of bees were sort of unceremoniously dumped in, fed some sugar syrup, and closed up. In a few days, I'll go back in and check to see if the queen has been released. Queens are shipped in a small cage within the large package of bees. They have a few attendants who feed and care for them until everyone gets used to and accepts their pheromone. The bees on the outside slowly chew the sugar plug that is keeping them from each other and by the time they are through, they are hopefully getting along!

I am hoping not only to use this blog as my documentation and record keeping, but also to be a way for people to keep up with the hive and learn a bit along the way! I don't want to overwhelm with too much information, but I'm happy to answer any questions!

Some helpful bee infographics:

http://infographicjournal.com/10-fascinating-honey-bee-facts-you-didnt-know/?epik=07eUsE_IWn990

https://homesteading.com/waggle-dance-bees/