Bzzzzzzz!

Bees have arrived!  This is going to be mostly a photo chronicle of our bee arrival and installation today. Let me (Jessie) start by saying that Anna is a total badass....though the photographer wasn't too bad, either. :)

Anna went to Bowdoinham to pick up our bees from the guy who taught her beekeeping course.  Of course, it was cold, cloudy, and raining which makes for grumpy bees, but bee pick-up is rain or shine.  After watching him put in a couple hives, Anna got our bees and headed for home.  This is how the late morning transpired:

A box 'o bees -- we had two of these for our two hives.  They were buzzin', and the sun came out for their arrival!

Anna dons her veil in preparation for putting the bees in the hives.

Smoker at the ready in case they were testy -- we ended up not really using this as the ladies were pretty docile.

Ready and waiting...

When Anna was watching her instructor put the bees in his hives, he was explaining how the bees have nothing to defend, so they're unlikely to sting you....and then he got stung on the neck.  We both knew that we had to be as calm as possible.  The bees can sense your fear, and it makes them more nervous and aggressive.  That being said, my heart was pounding, and I was just the photographer.  Anna channeled her inner yogi, took deep breaths and rocked it.

First, you have to remove the jar that fed the bees while they were in transit.  This also exposes the queen. (this picture is obviously from our second hive as the first one has bees on it, but it was a better pic)

Here, Anna's removing the case that holds the queen.  The workers and drones will follow their queen, so first you put the queen where you want the bees, then you add the bees. 

The queen is in a case that has a cork closure -- here Anna's removing the cork...and bees are on the move!

Once the queen is in the hive, she's still surrounded by a sort of candy.  This ensures that the bees will go into the hive (we hope!), and they eat the candy surrounding her releasing her into the hive to start laying eggs and building the colony.  Getting the bees into the hive is the good stuff...

Yep -- you just shake the box and dump them in there.  It is kind of scary and amazing at the same time.

More bee pouring....they're pretty awesome.

That's one happy beekeeper. :) One hive down, one to go.

Now that the bees are in their hives, we just have to feed them for a bit until the flowers start blooming. Their job right now is to set up their home and get settled....honey making comes later.  We may not get honey this year, but we just might.  I have a feeling Anna's going to be an amazing beekeeper and we'll get lots of sweet golden goodness. :)

Carefully putting the lid on -- no one wants to get squished!

Adding the food bucket -- it's full of sugar water and has a mesh screen on the lid. A vacuum is created when you turn it upside down, and the bees can grab a snack when they want one. 

Closing up the hive...our work here is done!

The finished product -- they're still figuring out their new homes here.  By the end of the day, there were almost none outside the hives. :)

Clearly, our smoker was ineffective.

Anna said, "Ooh, there's a drone!" Most of the bees are females, but the drones are male.  They can be differentiated from the females by their bigger size and bigger eyes.  Here, I got brave and went in for a close-up. The drone is in front, and the worker is in the back.  Yes, the ladies do all the work while the drones hang around the hive eating the food and being pampered by the ladies. Their only job is to breed with a queen.

As always, the farm manager oversees all major projects.

We survived, and the bees are in their new homes. :)

Photographer extraordinaire. 

And, to answer the question that everyone is wondering -- we didn't get stung even once! :D