3 pounds of bees
Last Tuesday I checked the hives – five days from the bear’s last visit. I actually saw two queens and evidence of queens in all hives (eggs and very young larva). It’s hard to believe they survived two visits from the bear! The hive that was hit twice had very few bees, not nearly enough to sustain it. So to give it a boost, on Sunday I bought three pounds of bees.
May 7, 2017
Above are pictures of my mentor Brion Dunbar, transferring the bees into my nuc box. As you can see, many experienced beekeepers don’t even suit up when handling bees. Me? I’m still inexperienced! 😉
Before installing the bees into their new hive I made another check. This time I did not see any evidence of a queen and saw several queen cells. They were making a new queen! I also found the same thing in one other hive. I have no idea why. The queens may have “survived” the bear, but perhaps were injured or greatly weakened. In two days I went from having four viable hives down to two. Amazing how quickly things can change!
With the addition of the new bees I now believe the hives have what they need to survive. I am going to let the bees be bees to sort it all out. I’ll recheck the hives late next week to see if new queens have emerged.
