Hiving Honeybees 2017

Today, I demonstrated how to hive honeybees after the shipment arrived. I did not remove the cork from the queen cage to give the bees a couple more days to get acquainted with their new mother. They have only been in the shipping box with their queen for a couple days. On Monday, 4/17/17 or Tuesday, 4/18/17 I will remove the cork and place a mini marshmallow into the queen cage entrance being careful not to allow the queen to escape.  At this time I will also top off the inner feeder with sugar water. Every three days I will top off the sugar feeder. Folks with bare foundation don't have to do a complete hive check for a couple weeks while the female workers are building honeycomb. With the cold weather we try to disrupt the colony as little as possible. When topping off the sugar water every three days, I don't try to lift frames out of the hive or find the queen. I just simply lift the lids off, pour the water in the feeder and shut the lids making sure they are aligned well with the hive body. Looking at the weather report, the best day for hiving will be Sunday, April 16, 2017 as temperatures are dropping over the next week. I will hive five more colonies tomorrow - 4/16/17 at 3:30PM if anyone wants to observe. Please arrive at 605 Betty Street at 3:30PM if you would like to join me. We will be traveling a few blocks away to the Chena River where we will hive two colonies and then to Creamer's Field for another three colonies.