I made rounds on Sunday morning to check in on most of the new hives and all looked pretty good: bees all still there and making purposeful forays out to find food sources.
The next few days should be pretty easy for us and for the bees. Here's what to expect:
- Weather is going to be mild...plenty warm, but not hot. Bees should be able to nicely venture forth to find food sources they need. This is a good thing and the primary concern for a new colony. I'm of the mind that the less 'unnatural' food we give them, the better off they'll be. Feeding is helpful and perhaps even necessary in some scenarios, but I'm pretty confident that with our mild upcoming weather the bees we put in will be fine.
- You should see modest traffic in and out of your hive with bees making gentle, rising, spiral patterns out to find food. Most bees will remain in the hive for now. On warmer days (like this Thursday), activity will increase a bit.
- Within about a week, start to watch the traffic more closely. If you see bees carrying pollen into the hive (yellow or orange 'saddle bags', that means the queen is probably laying already...a very good thing!
- For those of us that put the feeder can in the roof and left the quilt box off, the can will probably be empty in a few days. At that point, I'll be in touch to remove it and place the quilt box on the hive.\
- Within about 30 days, some of our more successful hives will require that we add a 'super' or hive story. This is an easy procedure that can be accomplished in about 15 minutes.
- If you have any concerns or questions...please feel free to call me at 541.543.6458.
Great work everyone!
David
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