My Beeday (pictures to come soon)

This morning at 9 John and Margaret came over to my bee yard to look at my hives.  To my relief they didn't fall down and faint - so I must be doing something right.  Since they are experiencing hive beetles for the first time this year, they didn't really have any suggestions aside from the traps I've already ordered.  There were more dead bees in the syrup I'd just put in yesterday and it smelled the same as it did before, like fermenting oranges.  The bees looked oily and they were sluggish.  John put his fingers into the liquid in the feeder and he said it felt oily, I took off a glove and did the same - it was oily.  It just didn't feel like a 1:1 simple syrup should feel.  He thought maybe the syrup was contaminated by something in or on the feeder itself.  But when they got home and checked their hives, they noticed that their syrup had an odor and felt oily just like mine.  I did get stung when they were here, and the balm I mentioned in my previous post, Denver's Sting Stopper not only immediately stopped the pain but the sting didn't swell.  I can't wait to get some of this!

While reading the directions to get to the bee yard, I noticed that I was asked to bring straps to hold the nuc to the bottom, I didn't have straps.  So after I went and did a non bee related errand I made a quick stop at Lowes to get some.  I don't know how I've survived without straps until now.  I am already visualizing projects where I can put these to good use.

At about 2 I left to go to Purcellville to get my nuc and equipment.  The drive out to their bee yard was glorious, the sun was shining, the sky was blue with a few clouds, the humidity was gone...and as I drove  with my windows down and my music turned up loud, I could smell the fresh cut grass and hay and clover.  I felt recharged.

So what did I come away with?  I got a box with 5 frames, bees and a queen, plus two empty boxes.  I got a mite count board, a shim, and a jar for feeding.  Once I got the bees home I got to use the double drive gate we'd had installed when the fence was put in.  Driving into the yard made more sense than carrying the hive full of bees from the front of the house to the back of the yard.  I can just imagine, with me being as clumsy as I am, dropping the bees and them scattering all over and then dive bombing me.  I kept the "front door" of the nuc shut and put some sugar water in the jar.  It's really cool how the jar feeder works, there are holes punched in the lid and you fill it, invert it and situate it in the hole on top of the hive.  This way you can see when it's empty and you don't have to bother the bees to feed them.  Until I get my own pictures downloaded, this will have to do for an example.

The thing I had to do today was the thing I'd been dreading for weeks.  I had to go into the weak hive and capture the Queen and kill her.  Telling myself she's just an insect didn't lessen the gravity of what I'd had to do.  She's buried just outside the front door to our house.  I had to kill her because the nuc that I got has an established Queen - each hive has just one.  Since my Queen has been such a poor performer making the choice to remove her was as easy as it was difficult.

It's been a busy day.  A lot has happened and I'm hoping for positive changes.  Tomorrow afternoon I plan to merge the bees from the weak hive with the strong bees in the nuc.  I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed.