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Loading ...Honey Bee replacements, Installing my package bees
Package bees, are honey bees purchased by the pound. These bees come from Georgia and the queen is an Italian. I had a complete loss of my honey bees when it suddenly warmed up in PA during winter months. One February day, temps went to the 60’s and workers flew out… the temperature suddenly dropped, preventing their return. The bees remaining in the hive were not able to maintain adequate heat and could not reach the stored honey. These package bees are replacements for those lost bees. Backyard honey bee yards have declined 12% in the last 10 years. My studies involve the use of “survivor” colonies, bees that make it without the use of chemical treatments. By continuing with stock from survivor colonies, we will, in theory, end up with naturally resistent honey bees. If you’re interested in reading about our environment as impacted by synthetic chemical treatments, I recommend a book published back in 1959 titled Silent Spring. She could have written that very book today, regarding the honey bee.
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Tags: 9 Responses to “Honey Bee replacements, Installing my package bees”
This year has been an excellent year for honey and colony expansion in my area… several of the association members have divided their hives and expanded their apiaries… what sort of queen issues have you had? As you can tell, I’m no bee expert.. just sharing as I learn myself and enjoying keeping and observing them.
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Thanks for posting… you’re right normally, package bees are calm and I do like spritzing them with sugar water.. these bees for some reason, were the meanest most angsty honey bees I’ve ever had and they are still super hostile! I have two other research colonies, both of which are calm and never zip out at me when I’m inspecting or moving things around… the smoker was just to show a friend how it works and why. Also, these drones are not from this queen. Thanks for sharing! I never give up
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overall a good video. sorry you had issues with your hives. mine have been a pain this year. I have had queen issues left and right. Another guy near me has been struggling with the same issues. Must be something in the air here. Good luck and dont give up.
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Im a new beek myself but I did catch a few things that are worth a slight mentioning. Package bees are essentially in a swarm mode.They are usually calm and non aggressive.Most folks just spray them with sugar water. They cant fly well and they fill up on it making it harder for them to sting should you disturb them. I guess smoke is OK, just never seen it on a new install. Drones dont make with a queen from their own hive. they fly off and mate with other queens to keep the gene pool fresh.
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The reason the honey appears black on the frame, is that these are pergo black polymer frames, otherwise, they would appear golden if light were to pass through a normal wax foundation.
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Thanks for your comments! You’re right, in some parts of China, they have resorted to hand pollination… fruit only for the wealthy in that province.
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Thanks for the info! Truly professional analysis & approach. Hope you succed with your bees, as we know, they are being subjected to extinction in a few parts of the world, which we know is deliberately man-made. Best wishes from the Australian bush!
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Hi, thanks for writing and for your concerns, it is good to have questions like this posted. The hive had no evidence of foul brood, wax moths nor other issues, everything was clean and tidy. Also, bees won’t inhabit hives abandoned due to CCD based on my reading and consultations. The failure was probably due to extreme exposure. Very high winds, 15 deg. F and the lids blew off. Not noticed until the following day. I’m confident that this was the reason for their demise. Poultry are no prob
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Your video raises some questions for me. This was a very nice job on a quick video. It looks like you have a good quality camera. Since you lost your last colony how did you know it was safe to install these bees in the same hives? Are there any concerns about your fowl and the bees sharing similar space?
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