1st Lessons Learned

Not knowing what my bees are up to is driving me crazy.  I've been replaying the installation over and over in my mind, thinking about all the things that I did, and may not have done right.  

Tonight after dinner, I sat down and read through a few of me beekeeping books.  Here are a few things that I need to 'correct'.

1.  Entrance Reducer - I need to correct the position and change the larger hole for the smaller one.  I used the larger one.  I'll do this Thursday or Friday

2.  Hive Stand - I need to swap out the milk crate and current cinderblock configuration for a new, sturdier one.  I'll hold off on this until the first brood chamber is filled in a few weeks.

3.  Queen - This is the big unknown.  All of the books say not to disturb the hive for at a week, lest the bees kill the queen for 'disturbing the hive'.  That puts me into late this week.  I'll do a drive by on Tuesday and open check the queens on Thursday or Friday and make sure they have been released.  

One other thing that I've thought of is to put a motion sensor wildlife scouting cameras on one of the trees by my hives.  That way, I can watch for skunks or other critters that my be disturbing my hives.  I can pick one of these up at Wal-Mart for about $75.   Just a thought...