Checked the hives and added 12 ounces to the feeder jar for the new hive. It sure is eating a lot, but I suppose that's good because they have a long ways to go to build up their numbers and fill two hive bodies this season. Unfortunately, the "wild" swarm was relatively small, compared to what I would have liked it to be this late into the season.
June 18, 2014
I was still feeling very under the weather from food poisoning, but my husband reminded me that I should at least check the syrup levels in each hive. I'm glad he reminded me, because I gave each hive additional syrup. The older, larger hive took about 8 ounces, and the new hive took another 12 ounces. There must not be as much to forage on (we haven't seen much, if any, rain the last couple weeks).
June 20, 2014
We received the new hive body from my Dad in the mail today. We had a lot of afternoon rain, but after it stopped and the ground dried out some, my husband and I finally got the smaller colony into their new home. We first moved our larger hive over, re-positioned some of the paver bricks (after purchasing a few more) and then put together a proper hive for the second colony. We were a bit nervous, because after smoking this hive, it got pretty loud, and as we moved it, a lot of the bees left the hive and were flying around us. But once the hive was all settled in its permanent location, they settled back down within a few minutes. Both the older hive and the newer one now rest in slightly different spots only a few inches from where they each were previously.
Here is a picture of the two hives (my camera skills with a smart phone need some improvement):
I am very proud of my husband. This particular day, working on the bees required a lot of help from him to actually move the larger hive over and re-arrange the bricks. And I'm super proud of him for stepping up and braving the bees with me to help. This was his first chance to work on the bees because he usually watches our children, and I do the work alone. But today we had some help from a good friend to watch our kids, and I legitimately needed his help.
I've never really been into taking selfies until starting this blog, but in celebration of getting the swarm into a new home with its own hive body, I convinced him we should take a selfie:
I'm still trying to decide what to name the two hives, so I'll keep you posted on that.
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