Our girls moved in yesterday evening.
Orientation flights are happening this morning.
Move in day
2 responses to “Move in day”
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How many bees? and do they fly all over finding out their new home, like other animals? was there anything special to do to make them feel at home, like food waiting or anything, or is that not necessary for redblooded honeybees?
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Each package comes with about three pounds of bees and a mated queen in her own little cage. The queen is the lure for the rest of the colony. Her cage gets attached to one of the top bars and then the rest are dumped into the hive. She puts off a pheromone that attracts the rest of the bees. Once they sense she is there, they start “fanning” happy “this is the place” pheromones of their own, signaling to the rest who haven’t gotten in the hive yet.
The queen’s cage has a hole with a piece of candy in the end of it that she and the workers eat through to release her. We will go back Saturday to make sure she has gotten out, and if not, give her some help.
They have to be fed at first with sugar syrup until they are active enough to start to gather their own nectar and make honey to eat. They also need pollen for protein, but there is enough of that around right.
I am the Audience 
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