Cell phone pic of our swarm before it was captured.
This is a really big swarm. That’s a dryer vent in the photo if that gives you any perspective. It was also about 5 inches deep.
Installing the bees into the hive.
We got all the kids together and invited our neighbor, who brought his friend. Everyone was in awe of how truly amazing this was. Please notice the painted hive. It’s not OUR hive. It’s a borrowed super. but the bottom board is ours and painted. Our hives are in the process of being painted and we wanted to give a few days for the fumes to dissipate. When Ren and Kelly and Molly say paint your hive, you better paint your stinking hive.
Cleaning up the spillage.
We heard you should install your bees on a mild day with no wind. Naturally, we did it on an extremely windy and cold evening. Still, they spilled over the sides like molasses not wanting to leave their Queen.
What roughly 26,000 honeybees looks like.
Some female worker bees.
You know. They are actually kind of cute. Seriously. I know, that’s coming from me, “she-who-runs-from-bee”.
What roughly 26,000 bees REALLY looks like.
That’s a lot of fucking bees.
Bee butts.
Slowly they filtered into the hive, but not before we got some amazing shots.
First morning in the new digs.
When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was check the hive. They are a rambunctious sort, and it seemed a bit chaotic to me today with bees flying around everywhere. I checked on them from above, on the deck, one landed on me. Of course, I did a funny dance and ran away.
We will do our first thorough inspection in one week.
Enjoy this awesome video that Skylar made. I love hearing his voice when he is excited. This whole experience so far has been so representative of how humans learn. More on that later.
wow, wow, wow! I love reading all this and see the photos. I was gonna ask you if you’ve talked to Ren or read anything on her blog (she’s local to me)…I bet she can give lots of advice. But anyway, I just think this is the coolest. Thanks for sharing it all.
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Heather Reply:
May 19th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
@Andrea – For comparison, the swarm that landed in our yard was about 3 lbs. This one is over double. Yeah I’m totally excited about it. But totally freaked out at the same time!
@Brandie – We’re in with a beekeeper now. LOL And the TJ and my eldest are going to attend the local beekeeper association meetings.
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I think it is amazing you are all doing this, and wow, 6.5 lbs of bees, incredible. Looking forward to reading more about this adventure.
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Fanfreakingtastic! I loved Skylars video. Can’t wait to follow the progress of this new, interesting experience
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Very Cool (and that is coming from another “she-who-runs-from-bees)!!! We have only talked about it, LOL. Loved the photos and video! Thanks for keeping us “posted”
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Heather Reply:
May 20th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
My fear of bees barely makes sense. I remember distinctly getting stung and saying, “That’s it? Really?”. For some reason one bee is also exponentially more scary than the hive of bees. I guess they just seem so busy. LOL
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