The bees have arrived ... all 10,000 of them

In theory I should still be in Ireland with Charlotte, but due to the volcano eruption in Iceland, that trip was cancelled. We opted to take the week off anyway and spent a day in Princeton, 2 days in Philadelphia, 2 days in Baltimore, and ending with a day in Newport, RI. This meant we were home mid-day Saturday vs late Sunday night and I was able to get the bees earlier than expected from a friend who, in my absence, was kind enough to pick them up for me. I had some experienced help lined up to assist me with the installation; but, that was when the plan was to do them on Monday or Tuesday. Today (Saturday) was sunny and warm, and the forecast for the next 3 days was for rain, so I decided that now was best the time to install the bees. After 2 years of reading and preparing for bees, the day has finally arrived.

A 3 lb box of bees is amazing ... 2 sides are screened, the top has holes cut out to accept a can of sugar water to nourish them during transport, and another hole that houses the queen cage - both are covered with an added piece of wood to secure them in place. Peering in the sides, and looking at the shapes of the bees all tightly clustered in the center around the can of sugar water, I'd never picture that I have 10,000 bees in there. Interesting buzz sound from the bees ... and it gets louder as they are exposed to light.

So off I go ... I made up a fresh solution of 5 lbs sugar to 2.5 qts water, and allowed it to cool off to be ready to use. The hive is ready, top frame feeder is ready, all frames in place, tools together, protective equipment ready ... deep breath. It's 4:40 PM as I brought the bees into more light, the buzzing sound grew louder, yet as soon as I "painted" the sides with a brush saturated in the sugar solution, they quieted right down ... nice. Out into the back yard I go, hat, veil, gloves on ... pulled off the added piece of wood on the top, and carefully removed the queen's cage. quite a few more bees followed her out, so I placed the loose wood back on top. I bought a marked queen so I could easily distinguish her highness from the crowd of female workers and few male drones. She was shipped with a few attendants along side of her in the cage. Removing a staple from one side of the metal cap covering the candy plug, I bent the cap over for use in suspending the cage between a couple of frames. After carefully making a slight indentation in the candy with a nail, I placed the cage between 2 frames. So far, easy task. I had quite a few bees buzzing around me, yet surprisingly I was calm, not a hint of anxiety or panic. The next step was the big test

I prepared a well for the rest of the bees by pulling 2 frames out of the hive. Going back to the package, I removed the wood and carefully pried out the sugar water can. It was more full than I thought and it took a fair amount of effort and patience to get my fingers around it. As soon as that can was out, so came quite a few more bees. Remembering what I had read and what I had viewed on numerous YouTube videos, I quickly knocked the box on the ground to shake the bees to the bottom, then inverted the box over the well and proceeded to pour the bees into the hive. A few hand knocks on the wooded sides, and angling the box back and forth a bit, I felt like I had most of the bees out. I already had the hive opening reducer set to the smallest opening, so I leaned the bee box up against the opening and proceeded to go back to the frames. I carefully brushed most of the bees from the top of the frames into the well, then carefully added back both frames into the hive. I set the inner cover in place, put the top hive feeder on top and stood there in awe. I did it!!! Yes there were hundreds of bees buzzing all around me, but I felt very comfortable standing there. I went back to get the sugar water, poured it in place, then set the telescoping top cover in place. 5:10 PM

As the day wore on, I would periodically go out, look around, see that I had bees going in and out of the hive. I noticed that those flying about, and those hanging out at the hive entrance were fewer and fewer as the temperature dropped towards sunset. By twilight, there were only 3 or 4 at the hive entrance, all others presumably were in the hive, cozy and warm, checking over their new home.

Success!