Since this is our first time having honeybees we’ve done a ton of reading, and have been following the instructions we were given with the bee kits as closely as possible. However, Mother Nature had another plan this week. Ideally we were only suppose to leave the bee kits in the hive for seven to nine days to make sure the queen bonds with her hive.

However, it’s been raining quite a bit the last week or so, and the temperatures have been on the cold side. I say this because in order to get the bee kits out you have to open the hive and you don’t want to do that when it’s cold or rainy. The hive likes to stay between 93° and 96°F with very little moisture, so we waited, and waited.

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My husband a.k.a. The Renaissance Man became very enamored with the idea of keeping honeybees. I thought it might be a passing phase, but when he signed up for the Oregon Master Beekeeper Program to become an apprentice beekeeper, I knew things were getting real!

He then came home with the supplies to build three bee boxes. And so we built and painted, and built some more. Soon enough my kitchen table was covered with honey frames, and my garage became paint central.

 

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