The girls are here!!!

John and I picked up our bees today!  We transferred them into their new home and we made it out without getting stung!  I'm so excited to get to know these gals.  Here's how it went....

We picked up the bees in a little wood frame, screened in box....all 30,000 of them....

We then had the task of taking the can out of the center and getting all the bees into the hive....hmmmm...

The can is filled with sugar water and is in there as a source of food during their travels.  So we got the hive all set and ready to go.  I have medium hive bodies so I started with two of them.  If you are starting with deep hive bodies you can just start with one, but I didn't think one medium would be enough space for these ladies so I started them with two.  I decided to put them into the bottom box and then put the second box on top, but in hindsight I would have stacked the boxes and then shook the bees into both boxes.  So we were ready..

John then looked at me and said...'sooo, what next?', to which my response was...

So after gathering myself, we started pulling the can out of the box.

We set the can aside and the bees began to leave the box and buzz about.  I panicked that they would all just immediately swarm and take off on me, but they stuck around.  We removed the little box that the queen was in and set her aside.  

I shook the box over the hive to get the bees to fall down into the hive bodies and banged it on the side of the hive a few times.  

At this point there was a formidable swarm of bees buzzing around me and I couldn't believe how unintimidating it was.  

They were so gentle, crawling over my hands and arms without caring at all who or what I was, or what I was doing.   After most of the bees were shaken down into the hive body, I brushed them out of the way enough to add the top hive body, but it was nearly impossible to get all the bees out of the way (which is why I would shake the bees into the prestacked bee boxes next time).

Now its time for the queen! We will leave her in her box for now, so the colony can orient themselves to her and have time to settle in and realize that they need a queen. 

I separated two frames in the top box just enough to fit the queen box down in there (careful to keep the screened side open and not against a frame), and then taped the top of the metal hook to the top of the frame.  Once the queen was in, I brushed the stray bees down into the hive and put the inner and outer lid on, stepped back and admired my mornings work! Not one disaster, much to my surprise!

After the girls were settled in, I made them some snacks.

This is a mix of pollen patty paste.  Pollen powder mixed with a 50/50 sugar water syrup.  I'm sure there are ratios for this but I just put a bunch of powder in the pot and then slowly added the syrup until it looked like this...

Then I poked a bunch of holes in wax paper...

Added the paste...

And brought it out to the bees.  

I laid it on top of the frames under the inner lid.  I started them with four patties because I'm really not sure how quickly they would go through it and I wanted to give them a good start. This is their source of protein and will help them thrive until they can gather nectar and pollen in abundance from nature.  I will continue to feed them until it seems they aren't eating it anymore.  I also put their sugar water feeder into the front of the hive.

Now they have food and water and a home! I'm so excited!!!

Just some more lovely bee shots.....