The Babies Have Finally Arrived!!!

Sorry for the late post on the "Babies" arrival...I was sick all of last week...

They arrived Thursday afternoon, April 9, 2009.

My Godmom Marj took me over to pick them up from

Busy Bees Apiaries in Chapel Hill

(that's how bad I felt...ugh).

They come in a wood box with mesh wire sides called a Package.

There are approximately 3 lbs or 13,000 Honeybees per package.

The "Girls" were buzzing...until we started driving that is...

then they actually became quiet... maybe they enjoyed the ride...LOL...

I doubt it as Honeybees don't care for vibrations.

Installing a Package

Here is the hive...

I am installing my package of bees using what I'll call the Tapp Method (smile).

Jack Tapp of Busy Bees was telling me about a way

where you don't have to shake them into the hive.

As he said...and how it seems to me...it is less stressful this way.

With his method, you simply remove the Queen...

place her between two of the frames...

remove 5 of the frames...open the package

and place the entire package into the hive.

The next day you can come back and remove the empty box.

This is a picture of the Queen's Cage.

She was inside of this little box with a couple of Workers to take care of her.

We'll insert her between two of the frames.

The Workers will then eat what's called "Queen's Candy" to free her from the cage.

This is a way to ensure they want to take care of her...their acceptance of her.

This was sooooooooo easy!

I didn't even put my hat and veil on or light the smoker for it!

Putting on the copper top...and we're done!