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04/16/2007: "Box o' Bees"

The bees came in a box. They weren't unduly upset until later.


First, we had to do a little last minute construction. Here Kurt is putting the finishing touches on a frame.

The bees had to be fed in a rather novel fashion. We sprayed them directly with a 2:1 sugar solution and they simply ate what hit them.

We consulted the instructions frequently. We couldn't help but notice the part about hitting the box against our knee and then opening the box.

Here is Kurt going against his instincts and opening the box of bees. The protective gear was good for our confidence.

The queen comes in a little box sealed off from the other bees. In the above photo, I am gently removing the box with the queen and placing it in the hive. The bees were becoming very understandably upset, but at that point we thought we were done, so we put the lid on the hive and started walking away. That's when we remembered the pollen patty that had to go in with them. Off the lid came again. In went the patty, on went the lid. No stings, no problems. Now all I have to do is go in there tomorrow and let the queen out.