Our second hive
We received our second nuc this evening. Our empty hive has been sitting and waiting for a colony but the beekeeper who was going to sell us a nuc was too busy. We decided to use the bees from Doron, the first person who sold us bees. It is not that we weren’t happy with his nuc, we were, but we wanted to try bees from another bee breeder to see if there were any differences. Also, I find that many beekeepers are very busy here and the more contact we have with more beekeepers, the more we learn. Each time I speak with a beekeeper I ask the questions that I have been thinking about between visits. Learning from text books is great but sometimes you need to ask the experienced beekeeper.
When I got home Maayan said right away ” I want to go with you to get the bees”. She has completely overcome her fear and is actually enjoying it now. So, Maayan and I brought our hive to the beekeeper and he inserted the five frames into our hive. We put our five empty frames (with foundation) into our hive and were ready to roll. I spent a few minutes talking with Doron about beekeeping and when we should plan our next hive. He was pessimistic about beekeeping in Israel. He explained that there is a five hive limit per person without being required to have a license. Since licenses are not available you can only buy them from people who want to sell them. Selling a license means that you can no longer have as many hives. The only chance is to try and find someone who is getting out of the business and buy their licenses. They go for around 1,000 shekel, which is about $250.00 per hive.
We drove the bees in our car (with a special screen over the opening) and Maayan wearing her bee suit, complete with veil.
When we got to the moshav near Rehovot we had to take the hive, which is pretty heavy, and the other gear across a field that is overgrown with weeds. At that point it was dark and I was barely able to find my way. Luckily, there was an old wreck of a car about halfway there that I was able to use as a resting place for the hive (and my back). We finally made made our way to the edge of the field and was able to put the hive down on the ground. Just before reaching the edge of the field I felt a sharp pain in my hand. I looked sown and realized that my hand was holding the hive with part of my palm resting against the screen. I was stung by an angry bee. As you know, bees usually lose their lives when they sting so she must have been pretty pissed off with me lugging their house across a bumpy field. I was able to continue, put the hive down and the do some polite cursing.
When we got to the place I decided to park the hive, I gave them a few puffs of smoke, unscrewed the special travel opening, and then we made our way back across the field. At one poin I felt something against my leg. It felt like Kelly, our dog, when she brushes up against me. The only problem is that I did not bring Kelly and I have no idea what went bump in the night.
Tomorrow, Alison and I will go and feed the bees in daylight.
May 14, 2009 10:18 pm