Here's another shot of when Mark "installed" the queen to one of our city hives in the yard. I was fascinated by how quickly the bees smelled her and gathered round. And as I watched them clammer all over her little box, I can see why she needs a little protection at first! I learned that it may take our bees a little time to get use to their new queen. And if we're lucky, they will like her and start feeding and caring for her. The other scenario would be that they don't like her and they will kill her. Then you hope they make a queen or you hope you find out soon enough that they killed her and you place another queen in there, if you happen to have another one on hand. :) So far, so good for our hives. Mark checked on them yesterday and all three hives in the yard appear to be doing just fine. That's great news to hear!
I have enjoyed being home again. Man, last week was gruelling but awesome up at our corporate office in Irving. I am really enjoying my visits up there because I can see how it helps us move along on our projects. Face-to-face is just necessary at times, especially since many people don't know who I am. :) BUT....being home rocks. AND having yesterday off helped me recover and catch up on sleep. I should be able to attack next week with gusto.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!
5 comments:
I am happy to see this picture. We sure need more honey bees.
Yes we do need more honey bees. I understand many are dying & therefore we are in danger of losing the main way of pollination. Hope your hives are successful. Do you ever worry about the "killer bees" taking over your hives? I don't know if that is a problem in our area...
Thanks, Abe and Lizzy, for your comments. Actually, we did lose a hive due to their becoming Africanized. Mark made the decision after they became way too aggresive to work with in the yard. Plus we didn't want them bothering anyone else. They were a strong hive so it was sad to lose them but sometimes that's for the best.
Hi Thien,
If you feel your hive is too Africanized, you can just requeen the hive. Try ordering queens from a breeder where there are no Africanized bees (see the map on my website, http://www.douglasfarm.net/honeybeebreeds.htm). I might also recomend Cordovan Italians. They are a blond italian. If the cordovan mates with an Africanized bee it will loose its light color as the blond trait is a resessive genetic color like blue eyes.
Regards,
Brian
www.douglasfarm.net
Thanks, Brian!
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