Year 2 has started and boy am I dumb

[Draginol]

I'm definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed.

So, last year I got 3 hives.  Of the 3 hives, one died and the other two survived the Winter.  My strongest hive I opened up and it appears to have a lot of egg laying workers (tons of eggs in cells).  So I'm dealing with that.  Cleaned out the hives and got them ready for Spring hopefully.  Got stung 3 times in the process but no biggie.

Today 4 packages arrived and my son and I set those up. So this is where the real dumb part comes. We were pretty clueless in handling the bees. By the 3rd package we had it pretty nailed down though I am not sure if I'm supposed to get nearly every last bee out of the package. But it was pretty hysterical watching us getting the bees out.  We probably should have been wearing some protective clothing but the bees were extremely gentle as they tend to be when arriving in packages.  Got stung 3 times but that was as I was leaving the apriary (one down my shirt, one in my hair, and one in my pocket).  But we had a good time.

Looking forward to starting year 2 though. Hopefully the bees will survive our newbeeness. ;-)

[JP]

You did fine you big dummy!! Just kidding, of course. ;)  No you don't have to get every last bee out, they will manage that one. Its your job to set them up and feed them. They will do the rest. Have fun!


...JP

[johnnybigfish]

Hey Draginol!
 Sounds to me like you did everything just as a pro would have done it! GOOD JOB!
I'm just starting my 2nd year(where'd the first one go to?) I just came in awhile ago with about 8 to 10 new stings!...I had to feed a hive, and it was getting late.....all I had on was my underwear and mocassins(I WAS fixin to get a shower, then i remembered to tend the pigeons and bees)And the nabors (New) next door were out on their balcony just lookin around...I didnt care as my trees are starting to block the view. All I did was open the hive to feed them syrup!!! :shock: The bees POURED out and were all over me!!!..If the nabors hadnt seen me earlier they sure saw me NOW!! :-D...I remained calm.....and collective....until the SECOND wave was on top of me!!!..I RAN!!..I FLAILED!!...And I CUSSED!!!!!..At this point the nabors had picked up on the ruckus going on in their new nabors yard!...ME, running around in my undies and now only wearing 1 mocassin, my smoker blowing smoke and fire at this point, and five dogs running at me to see what  my antics were all about!!
 Good thing the new nabors knew me from years back...They just figured that this is what I've been doing every evening for the past 20 years that they havent seen me. And I'll tellya one thing for sure...summer stings are worse than winter stings...they are hotter now than in the winter!! I got one sting in the side of my mouth...guess what?..I have to go to the dentist tomorrow morning!!...This oghta be a GAS!!

your friend,
john

[mlewis48]

 I feel your pain! This is my second year also. All of mine made it past winter,with no losses. Went through the package thing too. That was an experiance. I read, read, read the posts here and every book that I could find, trying to learn as much as I could but when the time came to get back into the hives, there are all kinds of things that come up that were not covered. Good luck and I hope that everything works out.
                          Marc

[DaveKow]

Hey Draginol!
 Sounds to me like you did everything just as a pro would have done it! GOOD JOB!
I'm just starting my 2nd year(where'd the first one go to?) I just came in awhile ago with about 8 to 10 new stings!...I had to feed a hive, and it was getting late.....all I had on was my underwear and mocassins(I WAS fixin to get a shower, then i remembered to tend the pigeons and bees)And the nabors (New) next door were out on their balcony just lookin around...I didnt care as my trees are starting to block the view. All I did was open the hive to feed them syrup!!! :shock: The bees POURED out and were all over me!!!..If the nabors hadnt seen me earlier they sure saw me NOW!! :-D...I remained calm.....and collective....until the SECOND wave was on top of me!!!..I RAN!!..I FLAILED!!...And I CUSSED!!!!!..At this point the nabors had picked up on the ruckus going on in their new nabors yard!...ME, running around in my undies and now only wearing 1 mocassin, my smoker blowing smoke and fire at this point, and five dogs running at me to see what  my antics were all about!!
 Good thing the new nabors knew me from years back...They just figured that this is what I've been doing every evening for the past 20 years that they havent seen me. And I'll tellya one thing for sure...summer stings are worse than winter stings...they are hotter now than in the winter!! I got one sting in the side of my mouth...guess what?..I have to go to the dentist tomorrow morning!!...This oghta be a GAS!!

your friend,
john

Still laughing!

[Draginol]

The bees were so gentle when actually shaking them and all that.  The only time I got stung was when I bent over and oine that had crawled up my t-shirt was getting squished in my belly flab stung me.

The one that stung me in the head had no justification though. I was walking to the car to get an inner cover and one of the ones in my hair stung me for no apparent reason. That one hurt a bit.

I have some pics I'll be putting up soon. If any of them survive I'll be pleased. I was so inept.

The funny thing is, I don't care much about honey. I just like taking care of the bees. Now I've got 6 hives to care for. :)

Here's where I had to reach in to pick upthe queen's cage:

http://www.draginol.com/images/Temptingfate_12BE0/0420081805.jpg

[Draginol]

installing the bees


covered in bees (though most are on my pants).


My son helping.

[johnnybigfish]

Great pics!!!!
I especially like where you can seee the bees flyiong around you guys!!
your friend,
john

[poka-bee]

Oh John,you made my day!  I'm still chuckling.  The Far Side image in my sick little head of you running yelling, flapping & waving in your undies w 1 shoe...hee hee brought tears to my eyes.  What fun it would be to be your neighbor  :evil: better than tv!!  I've gotta laugh now cause my time will come!  Jody

[Moonshae]

I installed two packages last week, and ended up pulling about a square foot of comb from each hive that they built in the gap. I felt bad removing their hard work, but that last frame had to go in...

...and the honey already on that comb was mighty tasty. I'm rethinking feeding packages...these did fine for themselves in their first week.

[Scadsobees]

Oh John,you made my day!  I'm still chuckling.  The Far Side image in my sick little head of you running yelling, flapping & waving in your undies w 1 shoe...hee hee brought tears to my eyes.  What fun it would be to be your neighbor  :evil: better than tv!!  I've gotta laugh now cause my time will come!  Jody

Have you seen a picture of him?  You do NOT want to see him in his undies!!@!!! :evil:

[Scadsobees]

Good job Draginol, looks like a good time.  I don't really like stings.

One note...when you work the bees with your son, make sure at least that you have something light colored covering up the black shirt!!!  He looks to a bee like a little hungry bear.... :-D  They get somewhat more defensive when the hive becomes their home.

Rick

[Cindi]

Draginol, good job, and the pictures were great, love those pictures.

Not like the picture that John painted, can't imagine what that would have looked like him running around in his shorts, flailing and flying his hands and arms, eekss!!!! (oops, did I say that?).  Sorry John, wear some more clothes next time, hee, hee, (serves ya right, oops, did I say that too?).  Beautiful and most wonderful day, Cindi

[Michael Bush]

And, not to pick on you, but you really ought to wear a veil.  A sting on the eyeball can be permanently debilitating and bees can go from docile to irate very quickly sometimes.