Today Christian picked up three pounds of honey bees he ordered to install at his old farm. Luckily we had all the equipment he needed since we kept bees at our house when the boys were all young. Christian had his own hive here actually and still fits into his old beekeeping suit.
The hive is located at the lower end of his fields next to the stream for water and lots of morning sun. Sugar water in a 1:1 ratio is fed to the bees and sprayed onto the frames initially. The Queen is in a separate candy coated box which is eaten away as the hive acclimates. Eventually Christian plans to have five hives in order to qualify for farm assessment. Bees do not require much space or equipment compared to farm animals, and you can leave them alone since they will just make honey while you are gone.
Here are the boys in earlier days when Bill kept bees he found in our barn; filling the wall with honey.
