The Bees Have Arrived

It's been a bizzzy day here. The bees finally arrived. We picked them up early afternoon and got a live demonstration of installation. Garrett, our class instructor, made it look easy. Fortunately the weather predictions for rain didn't come to fruition and we were able to put them in the easy way rather than the rainy day method.

Bee Loading Instructions in Bayside

Sideways Beekeeper

Two Bees Doing the "Come Into the Hive Over Here " Dance at the Opening 

When the time finally came to shake in our own bees to their new hive home, after months of anticipation, excitement became colored with just a little tinge of nerves.  Gathering everything together and popping the feeder can from the package uncorked and released the nerves; it was time to get to work. As odd as it was to get comfortable with bees crawling all over me, particularly exposed hands, the only jerking reaction came when one found its way onto the small of my back. Oops, no bending over without full beekeeper regalia I suppose.

After shaking the package for what felt like a long time, and closing up the hive with only a couple of squished bees (sorry ladies), the package with the reming bees was put directly in front of the hive to find their way in. After an hour there were still way too many bees in the package all clumped up. When what to my wondering eyes should appear but a queen that they were huddled around. We removed her and a few attendants and put an ad for her on Humboldt Beekeeper's Yahoo Group. Dan came on up to get her and, lo and behold, she was a he...a drone. He said it was pretty early to have a drone, but more possible as they came from the valley where it's been warmer. Heck, what do I know. Hopefully what a real queen looks like. After he left I zoomed back to the Yahoo Group and hit "delete" to remove any trace of my complete and utter ignorance.

Never Confuse Your Drone with Your Queen - Keep This Chart Handy!

It was so windy this afternoon that the bees left in the package outside the hive got chilled and stopped moving around. Being the overly emotional people we are about animals,  and apparently now insects too, we brought them in to the house, warmed them up by the fire, re-placed them in front of the hive after they started buzzing around once again. I hope they find their way to their new home. So, OMG, I have to open up that box again in four days to see if the worker bees have chewed their way through the queen cage to free their royal highness. I think I can do this...