I've hived the first two packages of my life about an hour ago. I used the U of M method where you spray sugar water on them to keep them from flying too much.
Surprisingly, i didn't get stung a single time. The suspense waiting to get stung was worse than the sting would be, it never came.
I had a tiny bottle of honey from the bee class, i put some on the foundation and on the top bars. I reasoned it would make them more interested in the hive. I have some bucket feeders on top and a pollen patty on the top bars of both hives.
Nice weather tomorrow then rain this weekend. If they stick around for 24 hours they should be. There were a lot of bees flying so i didn't block the entrance. I watched an most bees were going in.
We have dandelions and crab apple trees flowering right now. They should be able to get some pollen and nectar before the weekends rains?
I'm sure this post is a little disjointed, my mind is still racing.
Edit - is it normal for packages to feel different in size? The first one seemed bigger, but that might be because they weren't clustered as tight.
Bob
Surprisingly, i didn't get stung a single time. The suspense waiting to get stung was worse than the sting would be, it never came.
I had a tiny bottle of honey from the bee class, i put some on the foundation and on the top bars. I reasoned it would make them more interested in the hive. I have some bucket feeders on top and a pollen patty on the top bars of both hives.
Nice weather tomorrow then rain this weekend. If they stick around for 24 hours they should be. There were a lot of bees flying so i didn't block the entrance. I watched an most bees were going in.
We have dandelions and crab apple trees flowering right now. They should be able to get some pollen and nectar before the weekends rains?
I'm sure this post is a little disjointed, my mind is still racing.
Edit - is it normal for packages to feel different in size? The first one seemed bigger, but that might be because they weren't clustered as tight.
Bob