Paul was up early to check on the hive in our yard. He was really worried. The hive was crazy! He didn’t want to get close to take video or pictures, because of the wild bees. Without a queen they were flying EVERYWHERE. They were flying around the house, buzzing around the windows and doors, and many were landing and hanging out on the back of the house. It was quite scary.
We needed to get a queen quickly. Paul called Knights bees to see if they had a saskatraz queen. They had one and told us to come down and get her.
Paul went into the garage to get the queen to take with us, and….
And she was was alive!!! She must have warmed up in the garage over night. Good thing Paul put the plug in the cage!
We fed her some left over sugar water from last night. How do you spoon feed a bee? With a toothpick!
We dipped the toothpick in the water and put it in the cage. I was surprised it worked. She ran over and started eating the droplets of sugar water.
She was getting very nervous, so we put her in the little hive on our kitchen island while we called Knight bees. We weren’t sure if the hive would accept her, because they were without a queen for some time. They told us to just put her in.
Again no pictures, because of the wild bees. Paul duct taped his pant legs shut, and taped his veil on because the bees were acting so wild he was worried they would fly up an article of clothing a sting him.
Again, no pictures 🙂 After the queen was put in the hive, a few minutes later ALL the bees went into the hive. All the bees that were hanging out on the side of the house flew into the hive. It was pretty amazing. It was pretty amazing the bees were so lost without a queen. Next time – if there is a next time- I will make sure video is taken.