Busy Beautiful Day!

Well, I had another exciting day today.  I got bees!  Yes, I got bees!  My mom and I spent the morning cleaning up the hive boxes, adding foundation to the frames, and setting up a nice level spot 18" off the ground.  Ok, so I guess I have a little bit more explaining to do here.  I have two hives that we set today.  First, since we live in an area with a lot of other wildlife, I have to take some extra precautions.  I put the hives over 18" off the ground to protect them from the skunks - they like to eat the bees like candy.  I also placed them near our electric fence to possibly help keep away the bear!  At least that's my plan.  

Setting the foundation & hive boxes

 After I had a nice level spot, we placed the first box with the entrance facing the south.  Then I put in the frames.  To help the bees get a head start, we put a sheet of bees wax foundation in each frame.  I then placed 5 frames in each box.  Once we picked up our two hives from the "bee man", we needed to "bee" careful so we wouldn't get stung... (hehe, I couldn't help it).  When we got home, we had to pop the lid off the box because inside is a special cage with the queen bee.  I checked her out and made sure she looked good.  She has a longer abdomen.  She looked great, then I pulled the cork out of her cage.  There is candy inside that the other bees will eat away to get to her.  I then place the box of bees inside too.  With my bee suit on, we pulled the lid off, placed a divider over them, and set-up candy solution for them in a second box on top.  I covered this whole set-up with a telescoping lid, sealed it up for the night, and will go back tomorrow to remove the box and open up the hive so the bees can begin their work.  By keeping them in for twenty-four hours, they will get used to their new home.

setting the queen

We did this and didn't get stung one time.  Hopefully tomorrow will go as well!  I'll keep you posted on that.

We did it and didn't get stung!

The whole time I was working with the bees, my mom and I also had a batch of farmstead cheese going on the stove.  This type of cheese takes quite a bit of time to get the curds just right, so it was a perfect day to give it a try.

Cutting the curds.

I'll post pictures tomorrow of us opening the hives and taking out the cheese after it has been pressed!  Until tomorrow...