Bees are Here!

After our dissapppointment with the chicken eggs earlier in the month, it was a real excitement to get our package of bees to hive in our beehive in the yard. A huge thank you to Tom Ricks for sharing one of his packages with us, thanks! Here is what the bees look like when they come via the mail. We kept them in the basement for about an hour and then I put them into the hive. The queen comes in a special cage that the other bees free her from after you place her in the hive, they do this by eating throught the 'candy' that plugs the cage entrance. We will leave them alone for a week or so and then check to see that she is laying eggs and all is well. We have been waiting for some bees for over a year now, so either it was the adrenaline from handling 3 lbs (11,000) of bees or it was a long awaited event, either way, we were all really joyous! They are really very peaceful and easy to handle. The kids and I built the hive last year from a kit with my sister maggie, but didn't get it started in time for last season, so a year later, hooray, they are here! Originally we were getting some Gray Caucasian bees ( a russian strain) but that farm didn't work out. These are Italian bees from Rossman Apiaries. The first day the ants found the hive, but a sprinkle of cinnamon around the hive and the top solved that problem. We are excited to watch them work.