The Bees Have Arrived

Sunday was the day I had been waiting for for a long long time,  the Bees were here! The packages were supposed to arrive at 2:30 at the airport then 3:30 at Urban bee supplies. The plane was delayed and the packages didn't arrive until about 4:30. Thanks Lindsay for everything!

[caption id="attachment_23" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Lots of packages ready to go!"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_24" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kale amazed at the bees buzzing in the tube"][/caption]

We quickly headed home. The weather was getting worse and raindrops were visible on the 45 minute drive.  I had set the hive up earlier in the day and had the pop-up canopy ready to go in case the rain actually came. Kale and I  put the sugar syrup in the feeder and suited up.

[caption id="attachment_33" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hive on the roof of the carport"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_25" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kale in a too large Bee Suit"][/caption]

My heart was beating pretty fast  but I managed to get the queen out of the package, take the cork out, place the sugar in the hole and onto a frame. The rain was picking up and  a few bees hit the ground and died probably because of being chilled. I didn't use a smoker or sugar syrup spray, there were a few bees flying around and they seemed  pretty mellow. It might have been because it was a little cold but there was very little activity . What a shock for the bees, they were just hanging out in New Zealand then Bam! they're placed in a tube and then trucked to the airport for a long flight then dumped in a box in cold Canada.

[caption id="attachment_27" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="opening the package"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_29" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Bee's"][/caption]

Here is a video Part 1 of installing the package. The video ends abrubtly as the Tube rolls off the box dumping a few hundred bees on the wet ground and my son gets freaked out and my wife has to stop filming to prevent him from falling off the carport roof where i am keeping the hive. I managed to save a lot of the bees but felt incredibly bad for doing it.

Here is the video for Part 2 of installing the package. Taken after I had already poured the bees in the box it really started to rain. The weather is calling for at least 3 more days of wet cool weather and i am already feeling terrible that the bees welcome to Canada isn't very spring like.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8BoyuYUnSQ]

I spent that night concerned that they were too far away from the feeder and might starve, or that i hadn't placed the queen correctly on the frame. Oh my! did i make sure she was OK?  I have to relax and know that they will be ok.

My wife's friend took pictures with her camera that is much better than ours so I will post some more pics as soon as i get them.

So Excited!

Steve