Bees: Checking the queen

I read... A lot. I have a passion for knowledge. As such, doing new things give me a chance to learn all the different perspectives and ideas and theories around them. With "rural" things, there are overwhelming numbers of differing ideas. People are told something by someone who has always done it that way. It's amazing that there are so many different solutions.

The instructions that come with the package state explicitly that you should not disturb the bees for 6 full days after installation. I've read things that suggest 7-10 days is the appropriate length of time. I've also read things that suggest that you should release the queen immediately. The logic behind this last one suggests that, the bees will likely not kill the queen and if they do, you can just get another one.

The idea that made the most sense to me was to check for release after 4 days. That gives the bees the opportunity to get accustomed to the queen but not as much time to build insane amounts of burr comb to fill the extra space left by the cage. That was my plan. Of course, I forgot to tell the weather what my plan was.

The day I got the bees was beautiful, sunny and warm. The following 5 days were cold and windy and changed between showers and downpours. On day 6 (May 12th) it was sunny, although a little breezy. I happened to get home a little early from work and my wife had the kids at a playground. The bees were flying so I figured it was fine to open the hive even though all advice says never open the hive on a windy day.

I lit the smoker following the instructions in a book. I struggled to get it lit, keep it lit and when I finally did get it lit, there was very little smoke. What I learned is that I should rely on my instincts and skills instead of the book. The issue is that the book is written from someone who needs the smoker to stay lit all day while inspecting dozens or even hundreds of hives. I needed to inspect my single hive. I had copious amounts of billowing cool white smoke when trying to get a solid coal bed.

As it turned out, I didn't even need the smoke. These bees are ridiculously gentle. The bees didn't care in the slightest that a giant hand tore the roof off there home and reached in and stole there furniture. I know I would be pissed. I slid the frames apart slightly, removed the queen cage. Sure enough, she was free. I didn't want to risk too much disturbance to the hive, so I pushed the frames back together and put the inner cover back on. It was a little challenging, but I only squished one bee when I put the outer cover on. All in all, I would consider this a successful endeavor. Next time, I'll detail my first full inspection with more pictures. I didn't get any pictures by myself, but I'll include a picture of bee activity on the day after installation (May 7th).

The bees get adjusted to their new home and start foraging.