Chapter 6

Obtaining and Installing Your Bees

IN THIS CHAPTER

Knowing the kind of honey bee you want to raise

Deciding how and where to obtain your bees

Preparing for your bees’ arrival

Getting the girls into their new home

Ordering bees and putting them into their new home (hiving) is just about my favorite part of beekeeping. Hiving bees is surprisingly easy — and a lot safer than you might imagine. You don’t often get an opportunity to do it because once your bees are established, you don’t typically need to purchase a new colony. Bees are perennial and remain in their hive generation after generation. Only when you start a new hive or lose a hive to disease or starvation do you need to buy and install a new colony of bees.

I was a nervous wreck in the days and hours before installing my first colony. Like an expectant father, I paced the floor nervously until the day they arrived. And when they arrived, I fretted about how in the world I’d get all those bees into the hive. Would they fly away? Would they attack and sting me? Would the queen be okay? Would I do the right things? Help! All my fears and apprehensions turned out to be unfounded. It was as easy as pie and a thoroughly delightful experience.

Determining the Kind of Bee You Want

Across the globe there are numerous kinds of honey bees. You can choose from many different strains and hybrids of honey bees. Each has its own pluses and minuses. The following list acquaints you with some of the more common types of bees. Most of these types are readily available from bee suppliers. Some suppliers even specialize in particular breeds, so shop around to find what you want.

• Italian (A. m. ligustica): Hands down, the most popular bee in North America and Europe. These honey bees are a pretty yellow-brown in color with distinct dark bands. This race originally hails from the Apennine Peninsula in Italy. They are calm bees and good comb producers, and the large brood that Italian bees produce results in quick colony growth. They maintain a big winter colony, however, which requires large stores of food. You can help offset this by feeding them before the onset of winter (see Chapter 9).
• Saskatraz (hybrid): This relatively new strain of bees is produced in Northern California by Olivarez Honey Bees using breeder queens produced in Saskatchewan, Canada, by Meadow Ridge Enterprises. Packages of bees with a Saskatraz queen are also available through various beekeeping supply vendors (check the Internet for availability). Saskatraz breeder queens are selected for honey production, wintering ability, very gentle temperament, tracheal mite resistance, varroa mite tolerance, and resistance to brood disease (chalkbrood in particular). Saskatraz bees show fast spring buildup. It is important to note that attention must be paid to providing adequate fall honey storage for overwintering these bees. As of this writing, the Saskatraz tends to be a bit more expensive than other choices, but all-in-all, this gentle and robust bee is a lovely one to select when starting your adventure in beekeeping.
• Carniolan (A. m. carnica): Currently these are the second-most popular bee in North America. These bees are dark in color with broad gray bands. They originally hail from the mountains of Austria and Slovenia. They overwinter well and tend to have fewer health issues than some other races. But this type also exhibits a strong tendency to swarm. Carniolans maintain a small winter colony, which requires smaller stores of food.
• Caucasian (A. m. caucasica): Caucasian bees are mostly gray in color and are extremely adaptable to harsh weather conditions. They hail from the Caucasian Mountains near the Black Sea. They are gentle and calm. Caucasians make extensive use of propolis to chink up drafty openings, which can make quite a sticky challenge for the beekeeper. These bees also are prone to robbing honey, which can create a rather chaotic bee yard. They can also fall victim more easily to Nosema disease, so be sure to take preventive steps for your Caucasian bees (see Chapter 12). For these reasons, this type of bee has lost some favor among backyard beekeepers in recent years.
• Russian: In the 1990s, efforts to find a honey bee that was resistant to varroa and tracheal mites led United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers to Russia, where a strain of honey bee seemed to have developed a resistance to the pesky mites. Indeed, the Russian bees seem to be better at coping with the parasites that have created so much trouble for other strains of bees. These bees tend to curtail brood production when pollen and nectar are in short supply, resulting in a smaller winter colony — a helpful trait that leads to better success when it comes to overwintering in cold climates. I’ve had good success with Russian bees. Since 2000, Russian queen bees have been available from some bee breeders. They are worth considering.
• Buckfast (hybrid): The Buckfast bee was the creation of Brother Adam, a Benedictine monk at Buckfast Abby in the United Kingdom. Brother Adam earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the most knowledgeable bee breeders in the world. The precise heritage of the Buckfast bee seems to have been known only by Brother Adam. He mixed the British bee with scores of bees from other races, seeking the perfect blend of gentleness, productivity, and disease resistance. The Buckfast bee’s resulting characteristics have created quite a fan club of beekeepers from all around the world. The Buckfast bee excels at brood rearing but exhibits a tendency toward robbing and absconding from the hive (see Chapter 10 for information on how to prevent these bad habits). Buckfast bees are harder to find than the others mentioned, and even if you do find a breeder selling them, the authenticity of their genetics (as compared to Brother Adam’s strain) may be suspect. These days, some breeders in Canada offer Buckfast bees.
• Cordovan (hybrid): Here’s a gentle bee that’s gaining some interest. This race is often used as a marker in research because they are so easy to distinguish from other strains — they are a brilliant bright yellow, particularly the queen, who is even more yellow than the rest of the colony. This makes the queen easier to find, and some beekeepers love the convenience of being able to quickly spot the queen. The downside is that Cordovans are not particularly good honey producers (which is not an issue for researchers and those just wanting bees for pollination). In addition, they don’t do very well in cold, wet climates. But they certainly are pretty. You can find some breeders of this race in California and the Southeastern United States.
• Africanized (hybrid): The list of bee races is not complete without a nod to the so-called Killer Bee. This bee is not commercially available, nor desirable to have. I mention it here because its presence has become a reality throughout South America, Mexico, and much of the southern United States. This bee’s defensive behavior makes it difficult and even dangerous to manage. (See Chapter 10 for more on this type of bee.)

Another point to consider is raising your own survivor queens that exhibit the kinds of behaviors and characteristics you want for your situation. Many experienced beekeepers are using this approach to naturally improve the overall health and demeanor of their colonies. Learn more about queen rearing in Chapter 14.

Generally speaking, the four characteristics that you should consider when picking out the bee strain that you want to raise are gentleness, productivity, disease tolerance, and how well the bees tolerate the weather conditions in which you will be raising your girls. Table 6-1 assigns the various types of bees previously mentioned a rating from 1 to 3 in these four categories, with 1 being the most desirable and 3 the least desirable.

TABLE 6-1 Characteristics of Various Common Honey Bee Types

Bee Type	Gentleness	Productivity	Disease Tolerance	Wintering in Cold Climates
Italian	1	1	2	2
Saskatraz	1	1	1	1
Russian	1	1	1	1
Carniolan	1	2	2	2
Caucasian	1	2	2	1
Buckfast (hybrid)	2	2	1	1
Cordovan (hybrid)	1	3	2	3
Africanized	3	1	1	3

After all that’s said and done, which kind of bee do I recommend you start with? Try the Italian, Saskatraz, or Russian. No doubt about it. They are all gentle, productive, and do well in many different climates. Any of these bees are great for beginning beekeepers. Look no further than these three in your first year.

At some point in years to come, you may want to try raising your own bees. Much is involved in breeding bees. It’s a science that involves a good knowledge of biology, entomology, and genetics. A good way to get your feet wet is to start by raising your own queens, which allows you to retain the desirable characteristics of your favorite colonies. For a primer in raising queens, see Chapter 14.

When beekeeping in tight quarters where neighbors are in close proximity, it’s prudent to select gentle bees that are not prone to frequent swarming.

Deciding How to Obtain Your Initial Bee Colony

You’ll need some bees if you’re going to be a beekeeper. But where do they come from? You have several options when it comes to obtaining your bees. Some are good; others are not so good. This section describes these options and their benefits or drawbacks.

Ordering package bees

One of your best options and by far the most popular way to start a new Langstroth or Top Bar hive is to order package bees. It’s the choice that I most recommend. You can order bees by the pound from a reputable supplier. In the United States, bee breeders are found mostly in the warmer states. Most will ship just about anywhere in the continental United States.

A package of bees and a single queen are contained in a small wooden or plastic box with two screened or ventilated sides (see Figure 6-1). Packaged bees are either shipped directly to the beekeeper or the beekeeper picks up the package from the supplier. A package of bees is about the size of a large shoebox and includes a small, screened cage for the queen (about the size of a small matchbook) and a tin can of sugar syrup that serves to feed the bees during their journey. A three-pound package of bees contains about 10,000 bees, the ideal size for you to order. Order one package of bees (with queen) for each hive you plan to start.

Order a marked queen with the package. Marked means that a small colored dot has been painted on her thorax. Vendors charge a little more for marking, but this dot helps you spot the queen in your hive during inspections. It also confirms that the queen you see is the one that you installed (versus discovering an unmarked one that means your queen is gone and another has taken her place). The color of the dot indicates the year your queen was purchased (a useful thing to know because it allows you to keep track of the queen’s age — you will want to replace her every couple of years to keep brood production optimized). Chapter 14 includes the international color code for marking queens.

Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

FIGURE 6-1: Package bees are contained in either wooden or plastic boxes. Note the feeding can and the queen cage.

Be sure to pick a reputable dealer with a good track record for providing healthy and disease-free package bees (criteria for selecting a vendor is discussed in “Picking a Reputable Bee Supplier” later in this chapter). When ordering, be sure to ask to see a copy of a certificate of health from the vendor’s state apiary inspector. If the vendor refuses, be wary.

City dwellers can have a challenge getting package bees. Often they don’t have cars to drive to bee breeders, and it may not be practical to get bees shipped to an apartment building. Check with urban beekeeping clubs; they will sometimes band together to arrange for their members to pick up from a truckload of package bees.

Buying a “nuc” colony

For beekeepers with a Langstroth-style of hive, buying a nuc is another good option: Find a local beekeeper who can sell you a nucleus (nuc) colony of bees. A nuc consists of four to five frames of brood and bees, plus an actively laying queen. All you do is transfer the frames (bees and all) from the nuc box into your own hive. The box usually goes back to the supplier. But finding someone who sells nucs isn’t necessarily so easy because only a few beekeepers produce nucs for sale. After all, raising volumes of nucs for sale is a whole lot of work. But if you can find a local source, it’s far less stressful for the bees (they don’t have to be shipped). You can also be reasonably sure that the bees will do well in your geographic area. After all, it’s already the place they call home! An added plus is that having a local supplier gives you a convenient place to go when you have beekeeping questions (your own neighborhood bee mentor). To find a supplier in your neck of the woods, do an online search for “beekeeping” and your zip code, city, or state; call your state’s bee inspector; or ask members of a local beekeeping club or association.

For Top Bar hive beekeepers, purchasing a nucleus colony is usually not an option because of the nonstandard size of hive boxes. But, one way you may find a nuc for your Top Bar hive is to contact someone in your local bee club or join a Top Bar Hive (TBH) Facebook page and post a request — it’s a great way to start valuable connections.

To find a bee club or association in your state, hop on the Internet and search for a “bee club or “bee association” in your area.

A nuc or nucleus consists of a small wooden or cardboard hive (a “nuc box”; see Figure 6-2) with four to five frames of brood and bees, plus a young queen.

Courtesy of Bee Culture Magazine

FIGURE 6-2: A standard nuc box.

Look for a reputable dealer with a good track record for providing healthy bees (free of disease). Ask whether the state bee inspector inspects the vendor annually. Request a copy of a certificate of health from the state. If you can find a reputable beekeeper with nucs for sale, this is a convenient way to start a hive and quickly build up a strong colony.

Purchasing an established colony

You may find a local beekeeper who’s willing to sell you a fully established colony of bees — hive, bees, the whole kit and caboodle! This is fine and dandy, but more challenging than I recommend for a new beekeeper. First, you encounter many more bees to deal with than when you just get a package or nuc. And the bees are mature and well established in their hive. They will be far more protective of their hive than a newly established colony (you’re more likely to get stung). Their sheer volume makes inspecting the hive a challenge for someone just getting started in beekeeping. Furthermore, old equipment may be harder to manipulate (things tend to get glued together with propolis after the first season). More important, you also lose the opportunity to discover some of the subtleties of beekeeping that you can experience only when starting a hive from scratch: the building of new comb, introducing a new queen, and witnessing the development of a new colony.

Wait until you’ve gained more experience as a beekeeper before you purchase an established colony. If you’re determined, however, to select this option, make sure you have your state’s apiary inspector or an experienced local beekeeper look at the colony before you agree to buy it. You want to be 100 percent certain the colony is free of disease (for more information about honey bee diseases, see Chapter 12). After all, you wouldn’t buy a used car without having a mechanic look at it first.

It likely goes without saying, but if you are an urban beekeeper who plans to keep your bees on a rooftop, lugging an established, full-blown colony up a flight of stairs and onto a roof is not a prudent choice.

Capturing a wild swarm of bees

Here’s an option where the price is right: Swarms are free. But I don’t recommend this for the first-year beekeeper. Capturing a wild swarm is a bit tricky for someone who has never handled bees. And you can never be sure of the health, genetics, and temperament of a wild swarm. In some areas (mostly the deep southern United States) you face the possibility that the swarm you attempt to capture may be Africanized (see Chapter 10). My advice? Save this adventure for year two, and watch an experienced beekeeper capture a swarm first, before trying it yourself.

You may be tempted to get your first bee colony by transferring feral (wild) bees from a tree hollow or from the walls of a building. After all, they are, like a swarm, free. Resist the temptation! Any number of things can go wrong in moving bees from an established nest site. Leave wild bees alone until you have more experience. And even then, first see it done by an expert. Then decide if that’s something you ever want to try!

You can find information about capturing a swarm in Chapter 10.

Picking a Reputable Bee Supplier

By checking advertisements in bee journals and surfing the Internet you’ll come up with a long list of bee suppliers (see Appendix A for a list of my favorite suppliers along with information on bee-related websites, journals, and organizations). But all vendors are not created equal. Here are some rules for picking a good vendor:

• Be sure to pick a well-established vendor who has been selling bees for many years. The beekeeping business is full of well-meaning amateurs who get in and out of supplying bees. They lack experience, which can result in poor quality bees and lackluster customer service.
• Look for a vendor with a reputation for consistently supplying healthy bees and providing dependable shipping and good customer service. Figure 6-3 shows a picture of a well-run commercial bee-breeding yard.
• Ask whether the original supplier of the bees is inspected each year by the state’s apiary inspector. Request a copy of its health certificate. If the supplier refuses to comply, look elsewhere.
• Ask potential suppliers about their replacement guarantee. A reputable supplier replaces a package of bees that dies during shipment.
• Be suspicious of suppliers who make extravagant claims. Some walk a fine ethical line when they advertise that their bees are “mite or disease resistant.” No such breed of bee exists. New beekeepers are easy prey for these charlatans. If the claims sound too good to be true, they probably are. Look elsewhere.
• Consult with representatives of local/regional bee associations. Contact your state’s apiary inspector or other bee association representatives. Find out whom they recommend as suppliers. Get them to share their experiences with you — good and bad.
• Join a local bee club to get vendor recommendations from other members. This also is a great way to find out more about beekeeping and latch onto a mentor. Many clubs have “new beekeeper” programs and workshops.

Courtesy of Bee Culture Magazine

FIGURE 6-3: The yard of a commercial bee supplier.

DECIDING HOW MANY HIVES YOU WANT

Starting your adventure with two hives of bees offers certain advantages. Having two gives you a basis for comparison. It enables you to borrow frames from a stronger colony to supplement a weaker colony. In some ways two hives double the fun. You’ll have more bees to pollinate your garden and more opportunities to witness what goes on within a colony. And, of course, you’ll double your honey harvest! You can also double the rate of your learning curve. I suggest, however, that you begin with no more than two hives during your first year. More than two can be too much for the beginner to handle. Too many bees can be too time consuming and present too many new problems to digest before you really know the subtleties of beekeeping.

Deciding When to Place Your Order

When you’re ordering packaged bees, you want to time your order so you receive your bees as early in the spring as the weather allows. Doing so gives your colony time to build its numbers for the summer “honey flow” and means your bees are available for early pollination. Suppliers usually start shipping packaged bees early in April and continue through the end of May. Large commercial bee breeders shake bees into screened packages and ship hundreds of packages daily during this season (see Figure 6-4). After that, the weather simply is too hot for shipping packaged bees — they won’t survive the trip during the scorching hot days of summer (most bees ship from the southern states). Local bee suppliers have nucs available in a similar time frame.

Courtesy of Bee Culture Magazine

FIGURE 6-4: A commercial bee breeder shakes bees into packages for shipping to beekeepers.

Don’t wait until springtime to order your bees. Bees are in limited supply and available on a first-ordered, first-shipped basis. Avoid disappointment. Place your order very early. Ordering in December or January for delivery in the spring is not too early.

The Day Your Girls Arrive

Unless you’re picking up your bees directly from the breeder, you may not know the exact day that your bees will arrive at your doorstep. But many suppliers will at least let you know the approximate week they plan to ship your package bees. Weather (rain, temperature) is a determining factor for the bee suppliers, so be patient as they wait for the weather to make it safe for shipping.

If your package of bees is being mailed to you, about a week before the anticipated date of arrival, alert your local post office that you’re expecting bees. Make sure you provide the shipper with your telephone number so you can be reached the moment your bees come in. If your bees are arriving by mail, in most communities the post office asks that you pick up your bees at the post office. Instruct the post office that the package needs to be kept in a cool, dark place until you arrive.

Bees arriving at your door are not the signal for you to start assembling your equipment. Plan ahead! Make sure everything is ready for your girls before they arrive.

Bringing home your bees

When the bees finally arrive, follow these steps in the order they are given:

1. Inspect the package closely.

   Make sure your bees are alive. You may find some dead bees on the bottom of the package, but that is to be expected. However, if you find a full inch or more of dead bees on the bottom of the package, fill out a form from your shipper and call your vendor. He or she should replace your bees if most or all the bees arrive dead.

2. Take your bees home right away (but don’t put them in the hot, stuffy trunk of your car).

   They’ll be hot, tired, and thirsty from traveling.

3. When you get home, spray the package liberally with room-temperature water using a clean mister or spray bottle.
4. Place the package of bees in a cool place, such as your basement or garage, for an hour.

5. After the hour has passed, spray the package of bees with sugar syrup (see the recipe that follows).

   Don’t brush syrup on the screen because doing so literally brushes off many little bee feet in the process.

You must have a means for feeding your bees once they’re in the hive. I strongly recommend using a good-quality hive-top feeder. Alternatively you can use a feeding pail or a baggie feeder (see Chapter 5 for additional information on different kinds of feeders).

Recipe for sugar syrup

You’ll likely need to feed your bees sugar syrup twice a year (in spring and in autumn).

The early spring feeding stimulates activity in the hive and gets your colony up and running fast. It also may save lives if the bees’ stores of honey have dropped dangerously low.

The colony will store the autumn sugar syrup feeding for use during the cold winter months (assuming your winter has cold months).

In either case, feeding syrup is also a convenient way to administer medications if you decide to use a medicated approach to bee health. It’s also a great time to add one of the many all-natural nutritional food supplements now available on the market. (More on that in Chapters 12 and 13.)

For springtime syrup, boil 5 pints (2½ quarts) of water on the stove. When it comes to a rolling boil, turn off the heat and add 5 pounds of white granulated sugar. Be sure you turn off the stove. If you continue boiling the sugar, it may caramelize, and that makes the bees sick. Stir until the sugar completely dissolves. The syrup must cool to room temperature before you can feed it to your bees.

Here’s a way to remember this syrup ratio: Mix a pound (16 ounces) of sugar with a pint (16 ounces) of water. And recall the old saying that “a pint’s a pound, the world around.”

Putting Your Bees into the Hive

The fun stuff comes next. Sure, you’ll be nervous, but that’s only because you’re about to do something you’ve never done before. Take your time and enjoy the experience. You’ll find that the bees are docile and cooperative. Read the instructions several times until you become familiar and comfortable with the steps. Do a dry run before your girls arrive. The photo illustrations provide a helpful visual cue — after all, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Be sure to check out the video on putting bees in your hive. Go to dummies.com and search for “Beekeeping For Dummies.” at www.dummies.com/go/beekeepingfd5e.

When I hived my first package of bees, I had my wife standing by with the instructions, reading them to me one step at a time. What teamwork!

Ideally, hive your bees in the late afternoon on the day you pick them up or the next afternoon. Pick a clear, mild day with little or no wind. If it’s raining and cold, wait a day. If you absolutely must, you can wait two to three days to put them in the hive, but make certain you spray them two or three times a day with sugar syrup while they’re waiting to be introduced to their new home. Don’t wait more than a few days to hive them. The sooner it’s done, the better. Chances are they’ve already been cooped up in that box for several days before arriving in your yard.

Whenever I hive a package of bees, I always invite friends and neighbors to witness the adventure. They provide great moral support, and it gives them a chance to see firsthand how gentle the bees actually are. Ask someone to bring a camera. You’ll love having the photos for your scrapbook!

Hiving steps for Langstroth type hives and Steps 1–7 for Top Bar hives

To hive your bees, follow these steps in the order they are given. Generally speaking, the first part of the process is the same whether you are using Langstroth hives or Top Bar hives. If you’re using Top Bar hives, follow the first seven steps and then skip to the next section to complete the process.

1. Thirty minutes before hiving, spray your bees rather heavily with sugar syrup.

   But don’t drown them with syrup. Use common sense, and they’ll be fine. The syrup not only makes for a tasty treat, the sticky stuff makes it harder for the bees to fly. They’ll be good as new after they lick the syrup off each other.

   

   Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

2. Using your hive tool, pry the wood cover off the package.

   Pull the nails or staples out of the cover and keep the wood cover handy. You will need it again later.

   

   Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

3. Jar the package down sharply on its bottom so your bees fall to the bottom of the package.

   Don’t worry. It doesn’t hurt them!

   

   Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

4. Remove the feeding can of syrup from the package and the queen cage.

   Loosely replace the wood cover (without the staples) to keep the bees from flying out.

   

   Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

5. Examine the queen cage. See the queen?

   She’s in there with a few attendants. Is she okay? In rare cases, she may have died in transit. If that’s the case, go ahead with the installation as if everything were okay. But call your supplier to order a replacement queen (there should be no charge). Your colony will be fine while you wait for your replacement queen.

   

   Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

6. Remove the cork at one end of the cage so you can see the white candy in the hole.

   If the candy is missing, you can plug the hole with a small piece of marshmallow. Don’t let the queen escape.

7. If the queen cage lacks a metal strap, fashion a hanging bracket for the wooden queen cage out of two small frame nails bent at right angles.

   Be sure to apply these nails at the candy end of the cage.

   Note: At this point, if you are installing your bees in a Top Bar hive, head to the section “Hiving Steps 8–14 for Top Bar hives.”

8. Prepare the hive by removing four or five of the frames, but keep them nearby.

   Remember that at this point in time you’re using only the lower deep hive body for your bees.

   

   Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

   Now hang the wooden queen cage (candy side up) between the frame that is closest to the open area and the frame next to it. The screen side of the cage can face toward the front or rear of the hive, but don’t position it with the screen facing the comb/foundation.

   Some packages of bees come with instructions to hang the wooden queen cage with the candy side down. Don’t do it. If one or more of the attendant bees in the cage dies, they will fall to the bottom and block the queen’s escape. By having the candy side up, no workers will block the escape hole. If the queen came in a small plastic cage without attendants, the candy plug can go up or down.

9. Spray your bees again, and jar the package down sharply so the bees drop to the bottom.

   Toss away the cover — you’re done with it.

10. Pour the bees into the hive.

    Pour (and shake) approximately one-third of the bees directly above and onto the hanging queen cage. Pour (and shake) the remaining bees into the open area created by the missing frames.

    

    Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

11. When the bees disperse a bit, gently replace all but one of the frames.

    Be careful not to crush the bees as you reinstall the frames. Be slow and gentle. That extra frame will be installed a week later when you remove the empty queen cage, allowing the space for this frame.

12. Place the hive-top feeder on top of the hive.

    Fill the feeder with sugar syrup.

    

    Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

13. Now place the outer cover on top of the hive-top feeder. You’re almost done.

14. Insert your entrance reducer, leaving a one-finger opening for the bees to defend.

    Leave the opening in this manner until the bees build up their numbers and can defend a larger hive entrance against intruders. This takes about four weeks. If an entrance reducer isn’t used, use fistfuls of grass to close up all but an inch or two of the entrance.

    

    Courtesy of Howland Blackiston

    Place the entrance reducer so the openings face up. Doing so allows the bees to climb up over any dead bees that might otherwise clog the small entrance.

15. Leave your Langstroth hive alone for a week. Seriously. No peeking until this time next week.

    Give the girls a chance to know and accept their new queen. If you open the hive too soon, they might actually kill the queen. Yikes!

Hiving Steps 8–14 for Top Bar hives

Installing your bees in a Top Bar hive follows a similar procedure to the one outlined above. In fact, the initial preparations outlined in Steps 1 through 7 are identical. After completing Steps 1–7 in the preceding section, follow these steps:

8. Remove all the bars from the hive except for the first four that are nearest to the entrance.

   Do not start this without a full set of bars that will allow you to fill the entire Top Bar hive from front to back. Also, you will need a feeder of some kind and enough sugar syrup to fill the feeder (and extra to keep it filled).

   You will hang the queen cage in the space between the fourth and the remaining top bars.

9. Attach enough wire to the queen cage to allow it to hang about an inch below the center guide strip on the underside of the top bars and still have enough wire to extend up and hook over the fourth bar.

10. Proceed to hang the queen on the fourth bar and pin the wire securely to the top of the bar (a push pin or staple does the trick).

    If the queen came in a wooden cage with attendants, make sure the candy is up. If she came in a small plastic cage without attendants, the candy plug can go either up or down.

11. Spray your bees again and jar the package down sharply so the bees drop to the bottom.

    Toss away the cover of the package — you’re done with it.

12. Pour the bees into the hive.

    Pour (and shake) a small amount of the bees directly above and onto the queen cage that is hanging on the fourth bar. Pour (and shake) the remaining bees into the open area created by the missing top bars.

13. Replace all the bars so the hive is completely sealed and put on the top cover.

    At this point the bees will begin to gather around the queen cage and form a cluster. This can happen rapidly, but allow an hour before completing the next step.

14. Remove the cover and enough bars so you can install a feeder.

    After the hour wait time, the bees should have gathered around the queen in a cluster. Position the feeder as close to that cluster as possible, leaving only an empty bar or two between the feeder and the cluster. The bees will begin to immediately draw comb and will work toward the feeder fast. Close the colony and allow the bees to work. Be sure to set the entrance opening to the smallest option.

Watching your bees come and go from their new home

Congratulations! You’re now officially a beekeeper. You’ve launched a wonderful new hobby that can give you a lifetime of enjoyment.

Use this first week to get to know your bees. Take a chair out to the hive and sit to the side of the entrance — about 2 to 3 feet from the hive (within reading distance). Watch the bees as they fly in and out of the hive. Some of the workers will return to the hive with pollen on their hind legs. Other bees will be fanning at the entrance, ventilating the hive or releasing a sweet pheromone into the air. This scent is unique to this hive and helps guide their foraging sisters back to their home. Can you spot the guard bees at the entrance? They’re the ones alertly checking each bee as she returns to the hive. In the afternoon, do you see any drones? They are the male bees of the colony and are slightly larger and more barrel-shaped than the female worker bees. The loud, deep sound of their buzzing often distinguishes them from their sisters.

KNOWING WHEN AND HOW TO USE THE ENTRANCE REDUCER

The entrance reducer of a Langstroth hive or the adjustable entry on a Top Bar hive is used for two primary reasons:

• To regulate the hive’s temperature
• To restrict the opening so a new or weak colony can better defend the colony

That being the case, here are some guidelines:

• For a newly hived colony, leave the entrance reducer in place until approximately four weeks after you have hived your package of bees. Chances are after a couple of weeks you can position the entrance reducer so its next largest opening is used. After about eight weeks, you can remove the entrance reducer completely. By that time the colony should be strong enough to defend itself — and the weather should be warm enough to fully open the entrance.
• For an established colony, use the entrance reducer during long periods of cold weather (less than 40° Fahrenheit [4° Celsius]). It helps prevent heat from escaping from the hive. I prefer not to use the smallest opening because I find it too restrictive — bees that die from attrition can clog the small opening. As a general rule of thumb, remove the entrance reducer completely when daytime temperatures are above 60° Fahrenheit (15° Celsius).