I called the bee supply shop early on the morning of the day I was told the bees would arrive to confirm they had arrived.  I was told they had so I drove to Portland to pick them up.  When I arrived there were dozens of beekeepers standing in line at the bee supply shop.  Many of the beekeepers lived close to the shop, and when they found out I had a 100 mile drive with my bees they kindly let me get in line ahead of them.  Thanks guys (and 1 gal, too)!

I picked up our two packages;  the shipping boxes are about the size of a shoe box and are referred to as PACKAGES.   They weigh about 3 pounds each and have close to 10,000 bees inside.   10,000 bees is just a guess though because I'm sure nobody wants to count them!

After grabbing up some additional supplies, I loaded the bees in the car and began our trip home.  The bees rode in the passenger seat next to me while I drove and I enjoyed listening to them buzz and hum.  One bee got out of the cage and sat on the dashboard the whole trip home.  I'm not sure how she escaped but she was well behaved.

The day I picked them up was cold, windy and a little bit rainy. A day like that is not at all a good day to install the bees in their new homes so I brought them into the house and put the packages into the bathtub to stay warm and dry.   They were quite happy after I sprayed them with sugar syrup from a spray bottle.  I enjoyed looking at them and talking to them for the next couple of nights. Our next door neighbor came over to visit and she wanted to see the bees too.

The next morning I was up early hoping that the weather would warm up a few degrees and the breeze would subside.   No deal . . .  rain, wind and thick clouds.  No hiving today. No problem though, the bees were happily buzzing away in the bathtub.  Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow.

Tuesday morning when we woke up the sun was trying really hard to peek out of the clouds.  Yes, there were some clouds but not too bad, and it was still colder than I would have liked but I couldn't keep the bees in the bathtub forever, now could I?   So, it looks like today is the day.  Sharon and I grabbed a quick bite of breakfast and got all our chores done for the morning before we grabbed all our gear and the camera and began to introduce the ladies to their new homes.

Packaged bees like those in the pictures are at their most gentle at this time.  Since they don't yet really have a home to defend and the queen isn't really THEIR Queen yet, they are pretty tame.  Many people don't even bother with a bee suit to place their bees in the new hives but Sharon made me put on the monster suit … she's pushy that way.

The bees are anxious to get into their new homes and one way to calm them down and make the process faster and less stressful is to spray them with sugar syrup right through the screen of their package.  The syrup coats them a little and they tend to concentrate on licking the syrup off of themselves and their neighbors.

The syrup also makes it a bit more difficult to fly so shaking them into the hive body is less apt to encourage flying away or escaping. Remember, they WANT to get into their new home.  In the pictures you can see how I spray the bees . . .

and then pretty firmly slam the package down onto the ground.  Viola!!  The bees are all at the bottom of the package . . . well most of them anyway.

With the bees settled to the package bottom I can remove the can that contains the syrup they traveled with as well as the queen cage where Her Highness is safely protected.

I should mention that this package of bees came to me from Northern California.  They spend several days in ths package and are eager to get out of this small box and into a larger hive where they can stretch out some.

Once I get both the can and the queen out I can carefully inspect the queen to make sure she is alive and not injured, and then place her between the frames.

The queen cage is normally placed so the candy or marshmallow plug is pointed up.  The cages we received with these packages had the plug opening down, a little curious but not a problem.

After the queen cage is placed we remove the cover and literally pour and shake some, perhaps a third, of the bees on top of the queen cage.   These bees will immediately surround the queen cage to protect her and keep her warm.

While the queen is in the cage she is producing pheromones, special smells and body odors that only she can produce.  The queen's pheromones communicate to the hive that she is the queen and that the hives survival depends on her.  They take very good care of their queen.

The method of putting the bees into the hive that we have chosen is to put the whole package into the hive with the remaining bees inside.

Not all beekeepers do it this way. Many just shake and pour the whole bunch into the hive and seal it up.  Both methods, and in fact, several more methods work well and it’s just a choice the beekeeper gets to make.

Once the queen and the package are in the hive I placed the hive top feeder on the hive and poured in the special sugar syrup I made for the girls.

The sugar syrup is made from Fumagilin and some essential oils which act as nutrients and appetite stimulants for the bees in the first still a little cold outside.

There aren’t many flowers out just yet and they need the food to get them off to a strong start.   In addition to the sugar syrup I have given the bees a pollen substitute . . .

which gives them much needed protein until the plants and flowers come in.

New baby bees, called brood, need to be fed pollen by the nurse bees if they are to grow rapidly and strong.  I should only have to feed the syrup for about 5 to 6 weeks and the pollen substitute for about 2 to 3 weeks or until the weather warms and the flowers and trees start to bloom more.

In two days I will go into the hive again and remove the package, the box the bees traveled in.  All the bees should be out of the package by now.

But guess what?  There are still hundreds of bees in the package when I look inside.  I guess they’re comfortable in there.  Regardless, they have to come out . . .

so I shake and pour the last bunch of bees out and set the mostly empty package on the ground in front of the hive.

Eventually, the last few stragglers will get the idea and move into the hive.

Once I put the top back on the hive the odors from inside the hive will lure them in to be with their sisters and their queen.   This might take a few hours but they will get the idea.

Now is also the time when I release the queen.  This part is kinda fun!

The queen cage has a little piece of cork stuffed into a hole drilled into the bottom of the cage.  Obviously the bees would have a hard time chewing through cork!  So, using a little nail I carefully remove the cork from the hole and stuff a little piece of ordinary marshmallow into the hole!

No self respecting bee can resist a marshmallow so the worker bees eat through the marshmallow plug and release the queen who promptly marches out of her cage and goes to work checking out the hive.

If I was to just remove the cork and not plug the hole with the marshmallow the queen might fly away.

As soon as the worker bees draw out the foundation and make some cells she will begin laying the eggs that will help the colony grow and prosper.

After I replace the cork with marshmallow I gently place her cage back in place between the frames . . .

and add the rest of the missing frames (that I had to remove when I put that package in) and then leave her alone for several days without peeking. Not peeking is harder than sleeping on Christmas eve . . .

While putting the covers on the hives I really need to be careful not to squish any of my girls… it’s harder than it looks. They’re EVERYWHERE!

In about six days I can open up the hive if the weather is nice and take a quick peek to make sure the queen was safely released and that she is laying eggs.  I don’t want to disturb or interrupt the work going on in the hive so I have to keep my inspection short and sweet.

While I’m making this inspection I’ll refill the sugar syrup and pollen substitute if necessary because I want to keep it available to the bees constantly until the flowers start producing nectar.  The bees will stop eating the sugar syrup and pollen substitute once their preferred food is abundant.

Today is April 28th….. I’ll check the bees progress as soon as the weather permits, Hopefully on Saturday the 3rd of May. Stay Tuned!