Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Our Big Weekend - 45 Packages Delivered and Installed - VIDEO

I started off for the day at 6:00am to make to hour-long trip to Stafford, Va to pick up bees from my friends at Rock Hill Bee Farm.  He drove up 650 packages, of which 45 had my name on them.  I'd love to learn his secret, how he gets all of them up on the back of of trailer, but need him and want him to succeed so happy to have him make the trip, especially as the bees came up very early this year.  We love March bees!

I think we could have squeezed a few more in there!

Not only did we have bees in the packages, but several had made their way out into the cabin of the car, creating quite a hazard.  Then there were three installs in Virginia before we re-entered the District to deliver the bulk of the bees.
video

Of our 45 packages, I am pleased to say we were responsible for 28 new hives in the District.  An excellent outcome.

Some of the highlights of our two days of installation:

  • Many many stings, even with the veil.  They seem to know to hit the same spot over and over again!
  • Rainy cold and windy both days.
  • Direct release of all our queens.
  • All the queens healthy.
Here is a video of some of our installs:


Next weekend we head down to Georgia ourselves to pick up some packages from the Fat Bee Man.  That should be a ton of fun and daughter Kaitlin is joining me.  Stay tuned for that trip!

Jeff.
Posted by DCHoneybees at 3:41 PM

3 comments:

  1. Hi, Jeff.
    I just found your blog through Linda Tillman's.
    Thanks for the videos.
    Here's an idea from a student in the BANV beekeeping classes a few years ago: when you take the wooden cover off the top of the package, make a handle of duct tape on the can: tape over the can & twist the extra tape up to have a handle to pull the can out. Works great!

    BTW, the bees sting the same spot repeatedly because it's marked with their venom. Mask the odor with smoke or something like a HoneyBHealthy spray.

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  2. You could definitely squeeze in 10 more packages! How many beehives do you have in D.C. now that you've added 28 hives? Are you managing all of them?

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  3. We manage about 25 hives. We think we have created upwards of 70 new beekeepers in the District since last year.

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