We Have Two Beehives Now

On Memorial Day we picked up our second beehive. It was another nuc hive from a local beekeeper.

I had my husband go with me because I was a little nervous about transporting them in the actual hive itself.

I took our bottom board, deep, inner cover, and telescoping cover. Along with the entrance blocker and tape. We took the bees out of his nuc and put them into the hive.

I was concerned that it would move too much in the vehicle and they would get loose in the van. I didn't want Little Man balancing the hive in the van if it shifted. We had two escapees on the way home. Good thing I always have empty medicine bottles on hand. I was able to capture the bees and release them at the house. The plus side of having a daughter who is obsessed with insects is that we always are ready to capture the critters.

I even got Jeff to suit up while it watched the bees get put into our hive box. I think he enjoys watching the bees. He checks on both hives everyday and likes to watch them.

 The man told us that these are bees that he caught from a swarm last year.They are a darker bee so he suspect they are most likely Carniolan bees. They built up rather quickly for him last spring. 

I will have to pay close attention to this one during swarm season. He already had several splits off of his original hive.

We will also have to go in and do some comb management in a few weeks as they have gone wild and have some crazy comb building going on. 

 We were planning on putting both hives next to one another. The other day we had a downpour and the rain was coming off the roof pretty heavy. I am glad I noticed that before we got the second hive as it wouldn't of been good as the hive would have gotten too much water run off from the roof.

The good news is that I actually got the smoker lit for the first time! I went out and bought natural untreated pine bedding that is use in small rodents cages for fuel. It lit much easier than the compressed wood pellets that came in our kit. I tried several time to get the other fuel lit with no results.

Now the fun begins as Bug has two beehives to care for.