Bee Bus

After a lot of anticipation, the bees finally arrived in their "bee bus".  Even the UPS guy was happy to see them!

They showed up at about 10 am super healthy and buzzing!  The UPS guy saw them on his truck and although he had until noon to deliver them, he knew we were waiting and excited so he drove straight to our house!   He will be given a "thank you" jar of honey when the time comes!

The bees sat in the garage in their bee bus until about 4 pm when we installed them in their new hive. It was interesting because while they were in the garage, about 15 bees from the neighborhood kept buzzing in and out of the garage!

The queen, her name with be Aretha!

The installation process only took about 10 minutes and went completely smoothly.  The queen was healthy and is installed in the hive in her cage with a marshmallow as a cork.  They will eat the marshmallow over time, which will release her into the hive where she will begin laying eggs.

We had all our gear out but never had to use the smoker.  But we did use sugar water in a sprayer to slow them down a little.   They seemed to settle right in.  We are hoping for a healthy, happy hive that  gives us 50 pound of honey next year!