bees
Denny and I are offically beekeepers now. We inherited all my brothers old diseased and abandoned hive parts and from that we managed to save one valid healthy hive. That hive grew so large under our deligent care that it made THREE Queen cells this spring so that we were able to split that hive into two more hives: the origional parent hive and two smaller "nucleus" hives with virgin queens that emerged from the queen cells produced by the parent queen and her attendants. A queen cell is easily visible because it resembles an unshelled peanut: - very large compared to the tiny worker cells. Last month, we purchased six sets of packaged bees from an apairy in Georgia, delivered via a large horse trailer filled with packaged bees from another beekeeper in Dover. Packaged bees arrive in a 6"x12" screened box containing one virgin queen and about 10,000 worker bees and some Drones. The bees are then introduced into their new hive at their new home The worker bees immediately set about gathering pollen and drawing out new comb in which the queen will lay her eggs. the workers will tend the brood cells and manufacture honey in other cells.NOTE - honeybees are a totally matriarchal society. Only one "lucky: drone (male bee) gets to mate with the queen and then he dies! life is tough for a drone bee. Last week we captured our first feral "swarm," compliments of the high school maintainance crew that spotted it hanging between a chain link fence and a metal sign that was bolted to the opposite side. Because of the location ,it was a difficult capture but upon inspection yesterday, the queen was intact and beginning to lay eggs. Next week we are getting 6 more nucs from a local beekeeper. Hopefully this variety of bees will result in a stronger apairy and a bountiful crop of honey next year!