Bees installed

The bees arrived in a van carrying many three pound boxes.

Thursday was the day of the bees' arrival. It was a chilly, wet day, but they were successfully (I hope) installed in their new home out in my pasture. Thank you to the Scottsville Supply Company for getting me started.

Five pounds of sugar measured out to 9 cups.
I added 9 cups of water and stirred well. It went
into the narrow black box on the right, which
fits into the hive so the bees will have a ready
food source available to them without even
going outside.

Setting up the hive

There's a can of sugar water filling the hole in the
box that has to be removed.

The queen bee is in this little box. I pried
a cork out of the end and then she will eat
her way out through the "candy" plug (that
white stuff). 

The queen's little box was attached to one of
the frames in the center of the hive.

Dumping the bees down into the bottom of
the hive.

Putting the cover on

It was chilly outside and I'm not sure any of the bees that weren't dumped into
the hive ever made it in there, but there were enough inside to get a colony
established, I hope. It's sort of like a crockpot, you just put everything in
and then walk away, leaving them alone for a while to do their thing.
I think the gargoyle makes a nice top for the hive.