After waiting for what seems forever, our bees finally arrived yesterday. The cold weather and rain had delayed things, but now we are ready to learn all about being bee keepers by hands on experience. Frank, our bee provider, came over with his son and two hives of bees, a deep and a medium. We'll keep these boxes until next year when hopefully our hives will be well established and we can return Frank's equipment.
Frank's son (also Frank) helped me connect my bee hat and veil to the jacket and we all went out to the field area we've selected as our "bee yard." Larry set up two stands with cinder blocks slightly angled so rainwater will drain off the front. Frank showed us the queen in each hive. The bees were busy and we saw cells with eggs already laid and some capped brood. There were also cells filled with nectar and "bee bread" which is pollen. Nectar is the bees carbohydrate and pollen is protein. Even bees need a balanced diet.
