We are so excited to have added TWO new hives to the farm!
We took a mini vacation/anniversary trip this past weekend to the beautiful mountains of North Georgia on the way to pick up the bees. We stayed a few days at
Forrest Hills Mountain Resort where we were married two years ago. Beautiful cabins in the mountains of Dahlonega, Georgia.
"Our" little gazebo where we said "I do" <3
Ahhhhh! Relaxing, rejuvenating, and just fun! A wonderful place to just get away. You have to visit
Gold City Corral while staying at Forrest Hills. It was so relaxing to take an hour trail ride and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Saturday morning it was time to head Toccoa, Georgia to
Mountain Sweet Honey to pick up our two nucs aka nucleus of bees and a nuc for our dear friends too. There are well over 10,000 bees in EACH of those boxes! A standard package of bees, just bees - no frames, weighs 3 pounds and contains over 10,000 bees. A nuc or nucleus is a package of bees along with their queen who had been pulled from a larger hive where they have already drawn out the comb, started filling it with honey and pollen and the queen has started laying eggs to strengthen the hive. The hives we received were on the second cycle....meaning the queen had laid eggs, they hatched, grew into adult worker bees, and another cycle of life had started again with newly hatched bees. This make for a very strong hive and a good number of bees. We added a little extra tape to the boxes before we headed for home ;-)
After we returned home we placed the nucs on top of their waiting new homes and allowed them to start exploring the new area. After about an hour they were ready to be moved into their new home!
Mr. Farmer Man donned the beekeeper uniform and set to moving our new residents into their new homes.
Carefully looking for the queen....you don't want to squish the matriarch of the hive! They were surprisingly docile. Usually if the have brood, bee larvae and eggs, they become much more protective.
We found her! You can see her almost in the very center of the photo. She is a little darker and her body is longer and the stripes aren't as pronounced. She is an Italian Queen! You can also see capped honey....honey that the bees have allowed the moisture to evaporate to just the right consistency before closing it up. You can also see uncapped honey....just waiting to be evaporated. Smart bees!
After everyone is settled into the new hives they start coming and going out the entrance. Busy little Bees!
We are looking forward to helping the farm with all these pollinators as well as hoping we will have honey to sell in the near future.
We will continue post update about our newest residents as they get busy making honey for us. As of today, we have added a queen excluder and a super so they can start drawing out comb for honey stores. They are busily working away collecting nectar and pollen and the queen is doing her job populating the hive. There were newly laid eggs in the hive today. :0)
I can't thank Amanda Hatfield enough for her services while we were away. She is a pet sitter and took on quite a job here at The Old Five Notch Farm for the weekend at the very last minute. She had plenty of regular residents to take care of as well as two sets of newly hatched babies! She did an AWESOME job! If you need a pet/home sitter, please consider allowing Amanda to take care of your furry family and your home while you are away. You can find her on care.com. You have to create a free account, but it is well worth it!
Amanda ...our friend, our saving grace! Thank you Amanda!!!
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