Bee Day Part 1 2019: Installing our New Italian Package

The day we've been waiting for has arrived. It's Bee Day, when we travel to Hudson NH to pick up the first of two bee packages we've ordered. The second arrives in about three weeks, but today we're all about the Italians. We ordered through a local bee yard, B-Line Apiaries, and when the girls get out of school, we'll be heading down. It's about an hour each way, so it's a road trip, of sorts.

Today will be all about getting the last details done for the hive, including checking the frames, prepping the feeders and generally making sure everything is in place. To be honest, we're a little nervous, but we've done our research and have found some mentors so we have nothing to really worry about. It's just this is our first time, and don't want to mess it up.

Preparing to Install Bees

From everything we've learned, the bee installing process assort of rough. The package is opened, we take out the queen cage and hang that, then remove a couple of frames and shake the rest of the bees into the hive. We figure we will lose a few in the transition, but when you have three pounds of bees, you can't be gently nudging them along to make their own decisions. 

Once the bees are in, we'll block the exit for a day to get them acclimated with their scent markers and feed with the 1:1 sugar solution we've prepared. The bee yard is also our soon-to-be installed postage stamp orchard, and a fence is going up tomorrow. We've found a hook up for landscaping planks, and those should be delivered either today or tomorrow as well. There's a lot going on.

Our Bee Education

A great deal of our bee education has come from Vino Farms Youtube channel (which we've shared a sample vid below). After three years, he has videoed and shared his daily learning process and really does it well. We've had advice and mentoring from a few locals, including our dog groomer who has a pollination service on the side. We belong to a couple FB pages, and tend to get talking bees and chickens at our local diner. It is there, perhaps, where we learn the most.

The plan is to move smoothly through today's pick up and installation, then share that with you all tomorrow. 

We love sharing our homesteading lives with you all, and really enjoy hearing your input. Has your Bee Day arrived yet? Have you ever installed a new package of bees in a hive. We'd love to hear you stories, so please join the conversation below. And as always, don't forget to subscribe!