keljonma's Front Porch - Settling in and adjusting

[keljonma]

DD sent a pic of DGS#1 playing ball last week at their first game.

He is the one at bat. He struck out, but their team won the game.

 

[keljonma]

TR got home a little early yesterday from work. He worked through lunch so he could start his vacation early. So yesterday evening we drove over to Lorain County to pick up our bees. I brought the sugar syrup/HBH in a spray bottle and sprayed them before putting them on the floor of the back seat. They were quiet all the way home. Did I mention that round trip was 300 miles??

It was dark when we got home, so the bees stayed in the entry/mud room overnight. Before starting I prayed that the weather would cooperate, the queen would be alive, the bees would be calm and I wouldn't kill too many bees during the install.

It was overcast and 70 at 6:30 this morning when we installed the bees. Our Italian Queen was looking very pretty and active. There was only a cork on one end (solid wall on the other) - no candy at all, so we removed the cork and stuffed the hole with a mini-marshmallow. The bees were VERY calm and I didn't get stung once. I found I used the syrup spray more than the smoker, but that could have been due to the fact the bees didn't have a hive to protect and pretty much left me alone. Although TR said that there were a number of bees climbing around on me. In all, I would say it was a very Zen-like experience.

TR took some great pics and I will try to get some of them posted soon.

We checked on the hive before heading to the library and there were just a few bees left in the shipping box.

I saw our landlady in the library Thursday, and she said that the people she called no longer had the hen house and fencing. So she wants us to use some of the miscellaneous wood in the milk house and barn.

TR and I looked at the wood in the barn - mostly not usable; however, there is a LOT of wood in the milk house. Most of it looks like floor planking - I saw some tongue and groove boards in there. So we will have to check that out a bit better.

The landlady also said that they would like TR to cut their lawn for them (using their riding lawn mower), as they are too busy to do it this spring/summer. TR checked out the riding mower today - the battery is missing and all 4 tires are flat. So he will have to get with the landlord before starting that job. I don't know yet if they are planning on paying TR or taking this off the rent.


Our Bees...

Our Queen....

Dumping the Bees....

Can you see the red thumbtack? That's our queen hanging there....

Closed up for the day. I need to go back and fix the back of the hive later.

 

[2dream]

Love the pics. Love the bees.

 

[lorihadams]

oooooooooo, that is sooooo cool!!! thanks for sharing the pics!

 

[Farmfresh]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dace]

Congrats!

Nice pics, I am so glad that you shared!

 

[Javamama]

Wow, thanks for sharing the photos!

 

[TanksHill]

Wow!!!!

 

[BeccaOH]

Congrats on the bees!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Yay!!! Congrats on the bees!