April 22, 2020; Checking for Eggs

This post is belated, but last week my dad and I went to check on the bees to see if the queen was laying eggs yet! Dad had a stroke last month, so it was a miracle to have him there this time! I'm so glad this visit was worth the drive and walk for him....the bees look great! Fresh, clean wax, and plenty of eggs, larvae and capped brood. We saw what we needed to see, closed up the hive, and increased the entrance size. The bees were coming back loaded with pollen, too! The insides of the feeder pail lids were crusted with sugar, so I scraped that off so the syrup would flow freely. That's all for today! I'll go back again early next week to check on them, and possibly add another deep!

Let the 2020 Bee Season Begin!

Today was "bee day!" Unfortunately my dad and bee mentor suffered a stroke last month, and while he's now thankfully home recovering, between that and the whole COVID-19 thing, he stayed home this year. However, I was able to go pick up the bees in Stillwater and get them installed today!

With the coronavirus epidemic going on, they had new procedures for picking up bees. Bee pickup was spread out between two days, and the time slot I was given based on my last name was 12:30-1:00 today. I was to put a sign in my window with my name, not open the window or get out of the vehicle, and allow them to put the bees in the vehicle.

I then headed home, made some sugar syrup, let it cool and headed over to install them! I think everything went well, but here is a movie from the day, including bee pickup!