Today my bees arrived with their beautiful Queen! I donned my brand new beekeeping suit and carried the transport cage down to my hives. I had asked my gardener to help as I was a bit nervous about the process, and truthfully ended up watching while he did most of the work! We opened the hive that had been acclimating down by the creek on our property and removed a few frames to prepare it for the bees.
To transfer the bees from their transport cage into the hive, we went through the following steps:
- Lightly tap the feeder can (which provides food to the bees while in transit) to release the bees into the bottom of the cage.
- Remove the small separate Queen’s cage and set it aside.
- Turn the transport cage upside down over the hive and tap it gently. When we did this, the majority of the bees went into the hive, with a few airborne and a few still in the transport cage.
- Gently replace the frames back into the hive without squashing any bees before introducing the Queen.
- Place the Queen securely between the frames in the top box and then finish reassembling the hive.
- Add a temporary feeder filled with sugar water on the front ledge of the hive, which will feed the bees while they are acclimating.
After completing these steps, we placed the mostly empty transport cage in front of the hive to let the remaining bees access to the hive at their own pace.
And that’s it! Now Mother Nature’s magic begins. I can’t wait to harvest my first batch of honey.
