NUC’s are here and it was dramatic!

This bee experience has been full of weird drama. The NUC’s came in cardboard closed boxes. The key word here is closed…

When I got home and opened the back of my car one NUC top was propped slightly open. (Only in my life right?!?) There were a good amount of bees outside having a party. The crazy thing is only two bees joined me upfront on my ride home. These bees are a family, they stick together.

I decided the safest bet was to suit up to bring them to the bee-yard. It is important that you know where the front and the back of the NUC is. This helps the bees orientate to their new surroundings. The boxes are closed now (Phewf!!) but tomorrow the frames will be installed in the same direction and same order. Here is a video of them buzzing inside the NUC’s and the bee-yard in the dark. 🐝

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/ulkcXKYt/img_7940.mov

Stay tuned for the update tomorrow afternoon!!

We hope you had a less dramatic evening!,

Tiffany

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There will be bees 🐝🐝

Yay! I will be getting two NUCS (Nucleus colonies) next week. My mentor Sheri at VT Beekeeping is on if the kindest souls I’ve ever met. It’s to late in the season to get a bee package (they need the most time in their hive since they are starting from scratch). They are also sold out everywhere. A NUC is a mini established colony that already has an egg laying queen. If you are interested in learning more about the differences this blog explains it very well: http://montanahomesteader.com/buying-nuc-vs-package-bees/

Can’t wait to give this another try! 🐝🐝

Tiffany

I wasn’t prepared for this one but, I failed. 🐝

Friday was so exciting with the arrival of our bee packages. Saturdays install went awesome. Phewf! We did it right for first timers. When a package is installed the Queen is in a box with candy that the attendant bees eat to release her. One queen was released really quick. (It should take 2-3 days not one.) When I checked the hives on Sunday one hive was really busy the other no activity. Peaked inside and there were absolutely no bees in there! (How did I misplace 10k bees?!)

We left them alone yesterday. My father in law and I took a walk up this morning. It’s raining so no bee activity and no buzzing when I listened to the hives. Sadly they both were empty. This is called absconding in the bee world. https://honeybeesuite.com/why-did-your-bees-leave/

I had a small pity party and ate my feelings in guacamole. I spoke with my mentor and she recommended I walk around the property to see if I could find them any where. I didn’t find them. My mentor said this is bee error not beekeeper error. Bee packages are tricky. I’m going to give it a try with a NUC (mini bee colony) the beginning of next month. This isn’t the first time I’ve given it my all and experienced great failure. It certainly isn’t my last…

Hoping my next bee update is more cheery 🐝🐝

Tiffany

Bee package installations! 🐝🐝

The installations went a lot smoother than I thought it would. It was so cool shaking thousands of bees into a hive. I know many would disagree on this but, remember we have been preparing for this day since January.

One queen is marked with a dot. That’s BEE-Once. It’s Britany BEE-ch is incognito! It will take one or two days for the bees to eat the candy that is plugging her cage to release her. During this time the hive is familiarizing themselves with her pheromones to accept her as their queen. The its work. work. work. work. work.

Bee sting count = zero!

Listen to the sound at end. That’s two happy hives!!

Happy Bee day BEE-once, It’s Britney BEEch and clan 🐝

We have our bee packages!! They will be installed tomorrow am! Each box is 3lbs of bees which equates to approximately 20,000 bees!

T-2 days until the Bees are here!

Sugar water made and hives are all set up! We are getting very excited for Friday! 🐝🐝

Happy Cinco De Bee-O! 🐝

It was a busy day at Twin Bears Maple Works!

Eric sanitized the evaporator in the sugar shack and set up the bee yard. Electric fence and all…You are not getting our bees Justin timBEARlake!! 🐻

Thank god we could put the twins to work!! (Just kidding. They loved running around with Grandpa & Bentley. They also enjoyed the wheel barrows Mem & Pep sent!)

The Beeyard all laid out

Fence wire up, mulched & cinderblocks for hive stands.

Another angle to show the gate opening. All that’s left is to hook up the fence energizer!

Hives are all ready to be painted tomorrow!

We also have some Twin Bears Swag ready to ship to sunny Florida!

We hope you enjoyed this beautiful spring day like we did!

-Tiffany

Get it before it cools..

Pints, 1/2 Gallons, warm fuzzy sweatshirts (it’s still cold at night) and tee shirts.

Syrup & Soft Goods

The trees have started to bud and..

Maple season has come to an end. It’s been a crazy and busy 6 weeks. We have a little syrup left to bottle but most is ready to be labeled and shipped to its new home for pancakes, toast, granola or all the other amazing uses for this natural sweetener.

Here is the nutritional information for those that need to know (zero fat 😏). Yep it’s all natural sugars from our colorful maple trees.

As will all real maple syrup it needs to be refrigerated once opened. Or kept in the freezer for longer storage. It won’t really freeze, just get super thick. There are more storage tips on ever bottle.

Unless your a heavy user the pint size will work for most people. We have a few half gallons, but I suspect those will go quick. Most of the syrup is Grade A medium Amber. We have a few bottles that are dark Amber.

We will have prices posted very shortly. If interested start sending us a FB message or email from the site. We will put everyone on the list, first come first served.

We will try to consolidate orders to save on shipping, i.e. if you live near someone else else that ordered (and Freinds) and want to save $ we will ship together and split the shipping. If you prefer to not save shipping please note that in your message and we will ship separate.

Thanks for all the positive words and support this year!

Beehive assembly day!

Today was beehive assembly day! It was a wonderful afternoon. It was only me and another twin boy mom. She is also a financial advisor…if you know my past life then you know my mind was blown! We had a moment like the stepbrothers movie “what!?” “Did we just become best friends?!” “YUP!!”

Above is a picture of the first assembled hive and 10 frames!

This week I will be busy assembling the rest of the hive supers and painting them and assembling the rest of the frames. Also getting the bee yard prepared and electric fence up and running. You could say we are busy bees!!!

Stay tuned for May 11th…Bee day!!!

-Tiffany