It has been a week since I installed my packages.
It has been cooler here – 40s in the evenings and maybe 60 during the day. It is going to rain for the next few days.
It is not yet bee weather. The hardwood trees are all blooming and the apple and other fruit trees look like they will start soon, but for the next couple of weeks I have to feed my bees, especially the new bees.
Connie stung me badly many times when I opened her up the other day. My ankles are swollen where I was stung through the socks and my wrist is so swollen that I still can’t put my watch on. She is a very successful hive and I don’t believe she needs feeding. I see many bees entering her with pollen. I figure that I can save some stings if I don’t feed her.
Martha, the very dark Russian hive, is doing well with foraging for pollen, in spite of the cooler weather. I will feed her because she seems to be the gentlest of my hives and I would like her to succeed. The Russians manage the population in the hive better than Italians, but the flip side is that when the nectar starts to flow they might not have built up a good population, yet. I have to be careful because another trait of Russians is they will swarm easily. I was thinking about splitting Connie, but I may have to preemptively split Martha if she spikes in population too quickly. Feed or not to feed? It is a difficult decision.
My real concern is the two new hives. They are named Ethel II and Justine. These are the new packages. They seem very very aggressive. I am concerned that it means that the queens were rejected or died and now these hives are queenless. Bees are not happy without a queen and act be more aggressive.
I fed them yesterday and when I cracked the top feeder a little, they buzzed out at me in defense, and I was stung on the top of the head. Now I have a headache.
The two new hives both have some bees returning with pollen, but only one bee every 20 seconds or so. This gives me concern. Perhaps it is because they have a low population. It will take three weeks or so before any brood hatches. I installed them on the 9th and assuming the queen was released shortly after there should be a spike in population during the first week of May. If the hives are queen right and successful I should know by May 15th.
I am reluctant to open the hives to inspect them, though. Each time I get stung it is worse. When I was stung in the throat I had to take a Sudafed because I had trouble breathing. I have started to worry about being stung. When I started, a sting hurt a little and then it went away. Now I swell up and the pain remains for three or four days.
I am getting frustrated by the bitchyness of my bees. I know some of it is my fault. I should have been better protected and used smoke when I did my inspection. I will open up the bees again on May 1st to see what I can see. I still want to take the super off of Connie and harvest the honey.
