More Package Bees

    We did something new at the Beez Neez this year. In addition to our usual two large orders of Italian bee packages, we added a third smaller order of Carniolan bee packages. This came about when some local commercial beekeepers offered to make up the packages here locally after they finished moving their bees back from California.  I supplied the shipping cages and cans of sugar syrup to the commercial beekeepers, who then made up the packages. They delivered the packages to the Beez Neez on Monday evening.  This morning I received an order of 100 Carniolan queens from Koehnan's.  I then spent a good part of the day adding those queens to the packages I had received the evening before.

    I had some mixed feelings about doing more package bees. On one hand, it gave me an opportunity to provide Carniolan packages to that segment of my customer base who prefer the dark bees. On the other hand, it extended the package bee craziness an additional week. Having just survived two seriously busy weeks of package bees, I wasn't sure I was up to doing a third week. Instead of a long road trip, this involved a different sort of preparation. I had to provide the cans of sugar syrup and the shipping cages and have those ready for pickup by 8:00 am on Monday morning. Considering the smaller scale of this order that turned out to be a manageable task. I was also very fortunate to have the timely assistance of my daughter Sarah and several grandchildren in the task of preparing the syrup and filling the cans.

A very full three pound package of bees

     I have to admit that I was very impressed with the quality of the packages. The supplier made sure all of the packages were well filled and it was obvious that they had benefited from being made up locally. There is a big difference between 12 hours of transport from California versus less than two hours transport from Lynden, Washington. Adding the queens after the fact also turned out to be easier than anticipated.  I'm not sure I would feel the same way if we had chosen to to a larger order of Carniolan packages, but it worked out very well with an order of less than 100 packages.

The queen cages have a metal tab attached

   The queens are added to the packages by removing the cans long enough to slide the metal tab (shown in the photo above) into the slot adjacent to the hole occupied by the can(shown in the photo below). Then the can is returned to its place, hopefully without having released any significant number of bees.

The slot soon to be occupied by the metal tab

     This seems like a fairly simple process, but it requires some skill. The sad part is that it is impossible to do without the occasional dismembering of honeybees who are attempting to escape their confinement.  A number of bees had their abdomens separated from the head and thorax by the can as I slid it back into place. It is best done quickly to both minimize the number of escapees as well as the number of inadvertent casualties. The more I tried to avoid killing a particular bee, the more opportunity I gave for other bees to join their sister in harm's way.  I think I killed significantly less bees when I focused on doing it quickly without regard for the loss of a particular bee.

Tipping the cage allows me to grip the can 

Returning the can to it's place after successfully adding the queen