The honey bees of course. After much anticipation, preparation, waiting, etc. I finally got THE call. “Your bees are ready for you to pick up”. I went down this evening and picked up two NUCS from Mike Sorensen. He runs a website at beeyondwonderful.com.
We (the bees and I) made the hour long trip back home arriving around midnight. Mike had warned me that the bees would be upset about the move from their old home to the new one here at the house. I was a little concerned that I would have a few thousand bees dancing around my head when I opened the box. I got fully suited up in the new Brazilian bee suit, that I got from Mike (Awesome suit, by the way), gloves, etc. I carried them down to the corner of the yard that I had prepared and sat them on top of the empty bottom board. Being that it was midnight, it was rather dark so I had the flashlight in my teeth, inside of the veil. Yes, I’m sure that it would have looked a bit ridiculous but, nobody was around to see. Then, the moment had come to cut the tape holding the opening shut. My apprehension seems a bit ridiculous looking back now but, Mike had warned me that they would be upset about the move and as nice as the new bee suit is, I’m 6′4″ tall and the legs didn’t quite make it down to meet my short boots that I was wearing. Anyway, I cut the tape on the first box and fold down the flap………. nothing. OK, didn’t expect that. I move over to the second box, cut the tape and fold down the flap. A dozen bees came crawling out and started walking around on the outside of the box. Nobody flying, still no bees coming out of the first box. This is where I start feeling a bit foolish about the anxiety of opening the boxes. I’m sure it would have been much different if it had not been midnight and/or been warmer outside. A couple of bees eventually started crawling around on the first box and if I shone the flashlight inside, I could see several of the girls walking around on the bottoms of the frames.
Tomorrow (actually, later today as it’s almost 1:00am), they get to move from their cardboard box to the real hive.
Richard
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