The Pelham Gang started as a three pound package of Italian honeybees I picked up from a fellow Elk Valley Beekeepers Association (EVBA) member this afternoon. I put the package of bees in the cab of my pickup so I could keep them cool and not blow them around in the breeze in the back of the truck. They and I made the trip home just fine. There was one bee hanging onto the outside of the package but she just stayed on the package and didn't fly around the inside of the cab.
After we arrived at the house, I got my smoker going and finished the final preparations on the hive. My father-in-law watched some of the preparations, asking questions, and making observations. About the time I was getting ready to open the cover on the package, my mentor from the EVBA arrived and checked my setup and helped me hive the package. The bees seemed very calm and easy to work with. I was the only one wearing a veil but no one was stung. The queen was installed in the middle of the frames awaiting release by the workers. Everything seemed to go as the beginning beekeeping class I took and all of the 15 or more different beekeeping books I've read said it would. The bees were in their new home, the covers were installed, and the Boardman feeder is installed, loaded with sugar syrup.
My Hive #1 consisted of a screened bottom board, an entrance reducer, one deep hive body, 10 frames with foundation, inner cover, outer cover, and the Boardman feeder. The hive came as part of a beginning beekeeper grant through the EVBA and the Tennessee Beekeepers Association (RBA). It is located probably 20 to 25 yards from the corner of my house, next to my storage building and is facing an easterly direction. The hive sits on eight cinder blocks stacked to make a stand two blocks high. I couldn’t decide on what color I wanted to paint the hive so I haven’t painted it yet.
This is my first hive and the first hive and the first group of bees I’ve ever worked with.
