Due to the strange world of teaching remotely. I have decided(really the wifey decided) that we should raise bees. We bought two hives of IRS (improved Russian Strain) honey bees and hived them in Langstroth hives. We live in the middle of nowhere in on top of a hill above Fairbanks so they have a lot of fields but they also have a lot of predators. We got the bees that will kill yellow jackets. They are supposed to be a bit meaner than the other bees but they seem to be very nice right now.
It is still cold at night, dropping down to 20F, to we have a number of quilts over the tops with just a tiny bee entrance and exit. We have pollen patties and candy boards on the tops of the frames and the queens are held in by pollen patty and should be free in the brood by tomorrow night. It gets up to 55F during the day and they do fly. They are a lot more gentle than the wild bees. We will see how this experiment works. It is interesting.
Just wondering if others here raise bees.
