Starting Our 11th Year of Beekeeping!

Yesterday we began our 11th year of keeping bees.  We went to Clearbrook MN to get 4 nucs of bees.  And today we went to Hackensack MN to get 2 packages of bees.  We will start the year with 6 hives.  A "nuc" is 5 frames of bees, brood and drawn comb, along with a queen.  A "package" of bees is 3 pounds of bees and a queen, with no frames.   Our bees from last year did not make it through the winter, as we believe we had a build up of carbon dioxide in the hive due to the hives being a little too tightly insulated for winter.    Anyway, here are photos of our beginnings this year. 

Starting with the nucs:

The nuc boxes are in front of the large hives.  Harold is preparing the larger hive boxes to make room for the frames in the nuc boxes.

Harold transfers a frame of bees into the large hive box.

A beekeeper must really get close to the bees!  You cannot have any fear of bees!

Just about done with the last nuc box.   We put 3 nucs into large boxes and one nuc into a smaller box.  We will put a package of bees into a large box and a package of bees into a small hive box.   This way we can tell which is better - package bees or nucs and also which hive box is better.

To keep all these bees more or less "calmed down", we use a smoker.  It is filled with burning pine needles and uses bellows to keep the smoke going.   The smoke doesn't harm the bees and helps to keep them less aggressive during hive duties.

Harold sets up one nuc into a smaller hive box.  In his left hand is a feeder tray, which we will fill with sugar water to feed the bees when natural plantings have not bloomed yet in this area. 

A smaller hive box all set up.  We will put a metal covered lid on a little later.   The bees are already orienting themselves to their new home!  They make small circles of "practice flights" around the hive, and into and out of the hive, so they know where home is.

A close up of a nuc box.

A selfie of yours truly - the photographer!!

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Today's photos of the package bees: 

The bees were in the warehouse of Mann Lake Bee Co in Hackensack MN.  Many beekeepers were lined up to receive their bee packages.

Apparently I wasn't the only one taking pictures today!

Many thousands of boxes of bees are ready for beekeepers!

Harold picks up our two boxes of bees.  They are neatly and safely contained in wooden boxes with screens for air for the bees.   The queen is in her own little box inside each box.

We put the bees in the back seat of the car for the 2 hour trip home.

Harold sprays the bees with a sugar water solution to calm the bees before they are transferred into the hive box.  We do not use a smoker on package bees.

Harold removes the can from the package.  It has slight holes in it, and has a sugar solution in it to feed bees during storage before beekeepers pick up their bees.

The package of bees is dumped into the new hive in one swift motion.

This is the small container with the queen.   Harold uses a pocket knife to undo the cork on the little box, and then he will set the queen into the hive, box and all, the box to be removed later.

The new bees are investigating their new home, as Harold makes a space for the feeder box.

The bees that don't get dumped into the box will go into it on their own, as they want to be near their queen.  We set the package box near the hive opening so they can fly in as they wish.  After a couple hours all the bees should be into the new hive, and settled into the new home - ready to work!

And so we start over again in a new bee season.   We used to work with an area beekeeper regarding bees, and had a lot more bees (many were on loan from him).   But he no longer is into bees due to family health issues, so we are on our own now.  Last year we got 350 lbs of honey from 4 hives.   This year with 6 hives we are hoping for a lot more honey!  The two package bees come from California, and the 4 nuc box bees come from Texas.   Pretty soon the yard will be buzzing again!
     It is fun and rewarding to work with the bees.  And the bees do such a good job pollinating things in the garden.   Beekeeping is definitely a win-win situation, even if it IS a lot of work!