Well that makes 14,001 of us. I installed a new four-pound package of bees on Sunday (3/11) which contains about 14,000 honeybees. I am number 14,001. I have not yet finished my first year as a beekeeper, so I am still a ‘newbee’ myself. My first year anniversary will be in May. I am excited to see how this year goes because it is my third hive but my first package installation. Last year I started with two nucleus hives or nucs. This year’s bees start out in a new hive with almost nothing. I did swap two frames from one of my other hives which had some drawn comb and a little nectar and pollen.

Installing a new package of bees

The first thing that needs to be done is to provide food for the new bees. I gave them about five pounds of syrup. I also gave the other two hives about 2 1/2 pounds each. My 2011 bees are definitely bringing in some pollen and nectar, but feeding still seems prudent. For the new bees it is a must.

I have noticed bees on my boxwood shrubs. They have a small green-ish flower that you could miss if you weren’t looking for it. The forsithia is just about to bloom, but I am not even sure if they like that flower. I hope so. I have a lot of it and it is an early flower. I have also noticed that one of my maple trees is about to flower. I want to pay more attention to the things that flower in March and April. Since I didn’t get my bees until May last year, I wasn’t paying much attention to what was blooming this early.

I just opened the new hive to be sure that the queen was out of her cage. She was, but I didn’t look for her. I will have to review what the signs are of a dead queen, just in case she was killed, but at the moment all appears good. I peeked at the two frames that I swapped from the other hive and they definitely had lots more comb and nectar. I was hoping to see brood instead of nectar. I guess that takes a few days. I will try to look again in a week and hope to find eggs or young brood. Amazingly the syrup was almost gone from the feeder! I am guessing that they have consumed about 4 1/2 pound of sugar in less than three days. I really should add more syrup ASAP.

The next big question is when to put on honey supers. It sure seems like this spring (technically still winter!) is so early that there will be some major nectar sources soon. I have to stop feeding sugar syrup when the bees are making honey that I will ultimately extract, so it is a big decision. I don’t want to stop feeding before they have a sure source of adequate nectar. Must be patient…must be patient.