Honeybee_ Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - C. Marina Marchese [21]
We pulled into the driveway, all 20,001 of us. Before removing the box from the truck, I gave the bees one more squirt of sugar water. They still seemed calm as I carried them into my cool basement. They would be safe away from direct sunlight or cold breezes that might give them a chill. I prepared another batch of sugar-water syrup using one part white granulated sugar to two parts water. To mix it up, I just had to boil the water, turn off the flame, and then add the sugar. I stirred it well until the sugar dissolved completely, and then let it cool before giving another serving to my bees. Tomorrow, Mr. B was coming over to meet my girls, as he called them, and to show me how to properly hive them. I had read over and over about how to properly hive a package of bees, carefully reviewing the steps and the photos. I’d even watched a video loaned to me by the bee club. But I was grateful that there would be an expert on hand for my first time.
Other Ways to Acquire Bees
Many new beekeepers are steered toward buying packaged bees, since that’s the easiest and most common way to establish a new hive. However, honeybees can be obtained in other ways besides ordering them through the mail. Some beekeepers sell frames containing worker bees, a mated queen, and existing new brood. You simply put these frames inside your hive, and the bees do the rest. This frame is called a nucleus hive, or simply “a nuc box,” and gives the colony a jumpstart, because you don’t have to wait for the queen to mate and lay eggs. Another way to acquire bees is to capture a swarm of feral bees, but wild bee colonies are rare in the United States. Finally, some beekeepers with established hives simply split an existing colony.
THE FOLLOWING AFTERNOON, I CHECKED MY BEES for what seemed like the fiftieth time and carried them up from the basement to the patio to enjoy the warm sunny day while they waited for their move to the hive. It was Mother’s Day. What day could be a more perfect day to meet the queen and hive my honeybees? It turned out that in the Northeast “beehiving day,” as we beekeepers call it, always seems to fall on Mother’s Day.
Mr. B would be along any minute. I reviewed my notes and prepared my smoker with some newspaper and twigs. My hive tool, bee veil, and beekeeper’s jacket were ready to go. I wore blue jeans tucked into work boots, so bees could not fly up my pants legs. I showered, washed my hair with fragrance-free shampoo, and brushed my teeth, because I had read that honeybees react unfavorably to body odor and perfumes, as well as the smell of leather or wool. Apparently bees sense these odors as similar to those of a wild predator, and may become agitated if the beekeeper smells like a threat to them. This is why beekeepers often do not visit their beehives wearing leather shoes, boots, or watchbands.
At exactly eleven thirty, Mr. B’s old pickup truck ambled into my gravel driveway and stopped abruptly up against the old stone wall. The driver’s side door opened, and Mr. B climbed out empty-handed. “Hmm, no bee veil,” I thought. He smiled and walked directly toward the hive, motioning for me to bring my box of bees and follow him. He was clearly not going to leave me any time to be nervous.
When we arrived at the hive, he briefed me on the sequence of events for getting the bees into the hive and on the