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Hello everyone! After a long, cold winter, it's been a busy spring around the A2B2 club! Our monthly meetings have been packed, and many folks went to one or more bee conferences in the area. I'm a newbee, myself, so I've been taking every opportunity to soak up as much information as I possibly can before my two packages arrive next Saturday. I'd like to give a shout out to all the seasoned beeks who have been so incredibly helpful to not only myself, but all of the beginners who are eagerly looking forward to giving their ladies and drones a happy, healthy life. At the SEMBA conference, our very own Winn Harless gave an informative and entertaining talk about swarm catching. He even brought along a couple of his home-made contraptions to show us. We also had an equipment building bee (like a quilting bee, only with power tools) at Dick Dyer's farm. A special thank you to Dick for letting folks camp out for half a day, and another special thank you to those who brought air compressors, power staplers and glue. It was a beautiful morning, and with everyone helping everyone, we were able to get all of our woodenware put together. I also added a new item to my wish list...a frame jig! And last but not least...the bees began to arrive! A couple weeks ago, Meghan demonstrated how to install package bees into a top bar hive. These bees belong the UMBees club which has hives at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. It was a cold, windy day, so she didn't have to spray them with any sugar water. The girls were content to stick together and stay close to the queen. It didn't take long at all before the girls realized that the hive was a much better home than the crowded screened box and started waving their little bee-hinds in the air to give the "come on in" signal to their sisters. With the queen inside, they hunkered down to eat honey candy and work on furnishing their new house. Tune in next time when we'll have highlights of bee school activities. This Sunday at Beginner's Bee School, we get to go inside the hive!
Enjoy the sunshine and dandelions, everyone! ~Melissa W. |
