After making the hour and a half trip up to Swan's Honey in Albion, Maine, we have two hives again! (Check out the video from the car with both hives on the drive home). And they are starting off with loads of resources to boot!

It's been a long time since I have had the loud sound of bees buzzing near my head, so some of the time spent installing the hives is just simply getting used to being in that close a proximity to the bees.

To start off both hives, we have lots of wax frames that are already built out. We also have several frames that already have honey in them that the bees can eat for energy.

We added a pollen patty to bolster the resources the ladies already have. A pollen patty is powdered pollen made into a taffy type consistency. The bees will eat this as a protein source while the honey and syrup serves as a carbohydrate source. This allows them to buzz around looking for more pollen.

All of this means that the nucs we are installing won't have to do all of the work that goes into creating the wax, filling out the frames, collecting the pollen, creating the honey and then capping it.

This will hopefully mean an earlier harvest of honey for us [read: you!] since the bees don't have to create their own food first.

So, what the heck is a nuc you ask?

"Nucs, or nucleus colonies, are small honey bee colonies created from larger colonies. The term refers both to the smaller size box and the colony of honeybees within it. The name is derived from the fact that a nuc hive is centered on a queen, the nucleus of the honey bee colony." Wikipedia - Nuc

The nucs that we got came with about 3 frames of brood and 2 frames of honey and pollen. The frames will contain bees from every stage of life from eggs, to brood, to capped brood to fully formed bees.

The first step to install the nuc is to plan which frames will go where. For these installations, I'll insulate them with some honey up in the top box. I'll add some honey and some filled out honeycomb from the pre-built wax frames. The expectation is that the queen will be laying her eggs in the center.

Last year, if you'll remember, we had a colony that originated from Georgia, USA. Well, Maine can be a fair bit more inhospitable over the winter than Georgia. Their laid back demeanor didn't bode well for them toward the end of the final nectar flow of the fall season. This year, both of our hives come from nucs that have been in Maine for some time. They know the urgency with which to gather resources and prep for a short season leading to a cold winter. That said, I use gloves, a beekeeping hat and veil as well as a sweatshirt to protect myself from these more aggressive bees.

During the maintenance sessions, you'll see me smoking the bees far more than I did last year. Again, this is because these healthy Maine colonies don't mess around when it comes to this shortened season. They will protect their colony and its resources when provoked.

The hope is that with all the resources we have at the start, that we will be able to put honey supers on both hives within two weeks or so. We have a shout out to Kellie who will be getting the first bit of honey we can squeeze out of the ladies this season!

That's all for now

Check out the full installation videos for both hives below!!

Thanks so much for reading! Keep a look out for some maitnenance videos coming soon!

~Chris, The Boxing Beekeeper

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