Wonderful news, we have docile bees! We could have worked our bees without a suit. Gentile well behaved bees is a 180 degree change from our summer with Africanized killer crazy bees. If this is what beekeeping is like, we’ll keep doing it!
This is our first year keeping bees. And it’s been a bumpy road. If you are interested in the full story, you’ll have to read Part 1 , Part 2, and Part 3 of for the full story.
Andrew and I gave a big sigh of relief when we opened our third and last hive this afternoon and the bees didn’t come swarming out stinging everything that moves. All three of our hives were docile, have laying queens, open and capped brood and honey! Our strategy to get ride of the killer Africanized bees worked and re-queening was the key!
We were offered replacement queens for free, but we didn’t want to chance them being hot again. So we ordered our bees from Wolf Creek Apiaries in Tennessee. They use organic management with their bees and allow the wild feral stock of drones to breed their queens. The bees are a mix of Russian, Italian and Carniolan genetics. All I know is that their queens are doing great in our hives and have a fabulous temperament! The folks at Wold Creek Apiaries were a pleasure to work. Next time we need bees or queens, we’re going with them.
You gotta see this picture below… it’s beautiful. We have open brood (baby bees) and capped brood in all three hives!
It’s a beautiful thing. The below picture is comb full of HONEY! 🙂
Look at all the baby bee larva!!! That’s a great sign that we have a laying queen!!! The hives accepted our new queens, hip hip hooray!!!!!!! We’re dancing over here.
Yeah. You triumphed!
Wow, after reading your first post I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep bees afterall! I am sure glad I read all four posts! What was your reasons for choosing the top bar method? We are in the process of figuring all this stuff out right now as we plan to get a couple of hives next spring.
the thing you have to watch out for.. is a few generations from now with the russian hybrid queens. They start out fine, but once they make a few new ones, they start to get hot.
LOVE IT!!! So glad you were tuff enuf to behead the bad girls and get some sweet genetics in there. I look forward to hearing the continuing saga!
xoxo
— Christy
Great job, you two!! I knew you could find the answer!
Great job! Aren’t you glad you didn’t throw in the towel after that first bad experience? Our bees are wonderful, too. They look very different from each other (one hive is small, very yellow and very active, and the other is large, dark, and more laid-back), but they are both very docile. We only took a single frame out of the more active hive which provided us with 5 pounds of honey, so that they could utilize the rest through the winter. :0)
Great news. Thanks for sharing Rashel. Can’t wait to hear about all the great recipes you’ll be making with that golden honey.