Bees Arrive

We've missed our bees.  Moving across country like we did necessitated that we rehome our hives.  We've been without bees now for about four years.  Thankfully the time has come that we have the space to adequately keep hives again.  Though conditions in this state (specifically weather wise) are significantly different from any other place we've kept bees, we feel like we've reached a point in life where we can bring them back into our lifestyle.  They arrived yesterday--cue celebration music!  

Bringing the bees into the yard from the truck--they still have the box over the crate

It was a beautiful day to welcome bees.  The children and I watched as John brought them in and transferred them from the shipping crate into the hive.  In the past, we've picked up our new bees, so it was quite a new experience to have them shipped to us.  They arrived in a crate that was familiar, but because they had been in transit for a couple of days, some of the bees had chewed their way out of the box--much to the postmaster's dismay.  

Bees in the shipping crate.  It's amazing to me that they send them through the postal system like this!

Thankfully, the desire to stay near the queen was enough to keep them from leaving the crate.  And even though they traveled, the death count was rather minimal--another thing to be thankful for as they had left their point of origin on Thursday and did not arrive at our house until Monday.  

Slowly and carefully, John moved to uncrate them and to introduce them to their new home. 

It took several "dumps" to get the bees out of the crate and into the hive box

With enough of the bees out of the crate, you can now see the cannister of sugar water that kept them well during transit and you can see the queen's carriage

The queen's carriage keeps her safe and her scent is so attractive that the other bees stay in one place so that we were assured to receive a complete starter hive

It doesn't look like much, but that's the beginning of a beautiful new era

Everything went very well.  Now just wait for them to settle in and begin to make honey,  :-)  We are very excited to have tiny animals to watch over again.  There are so many benefits to keeping bees.  We are happy stewards. :-) 

Welcome to your new hive!  Settle in and thrive! 

Bees in our garden