# Urban new-bee



## icodebot (Apr 18, 2009)

Hello everyone. 

I live in Long Beach, CA, in the suburbs of LA. I'm new to all of this, as I just installed my first ever package of bees last weekend. It's been a real blast so far. I see a lot of activity around the hive, and I've been watching them come back loaded with pollen. I just hope the queen is OK, and plan to open the hive for the first time this weekend. 

I did have a problem when installing the package. I got my bees from Koehnen & Sons. The feeder can they use has large openings all around the top of the can where you will inevitably need to put your hand to pull the can out. The can got stuck on the bottom lip and was really difficult to get out. With bees flowing out of the top part of the can I could not get the leverage on the can to pull it out properly. The queen cage also was on the cheap side, and there was no candy plug in it. I watched a lot of internet video's of people doing installs, and never saw a feeder can with holes like that in any of the videos.

I know they are a reputable firm, the bees looked great, and they did provided me with excellent customer service, but I don't think I'd order from them again.


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## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

Welcome to a great resource!


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## miniscule (Jan 31, 2009)

The candy plug missing seems really strange to me. Did you call them, and if so what did they say? Did you release the queen yet? Very curious.


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## icodebot (Apr 18, 2009)

I just used marshmallow to plug it with.


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## miniscule (Jan 31, 2009)

At least they're good for something! 8^)


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