It’s the charm, right? Is it just that by the third time trying something, you’ve made enough mistakes to have learned enough to maybe not mess up again? That’s what I’m hoping as we try again to keep bees.
And yes! That is about 10,000 bees hanging out, in amongst the junk in the back of my van! We are only starting one hive in case we need to split it. Also we are waiting to see if the immuno-therapy that Neil is doing for his honey bee sting allergy will help at all. For now, it’s still awful and he is my camera man and moral support. Corra and Layna went with me to pick up our new friends and enjoyed a honey straw. Corra veiled up and helped with the install.
The shop we bought them from is doing things differently now…the queen traveled in her own bag separate from her future minions. She has a red dot this year. I bought a fancy new device that holds the queen box and hooks onto a frame while the bees eat the sugar to let her out. I’ll check on them tomorrow to make sure they freed her. Something else we are doing differently is trying a new entrance that deters small hive beetles. An infestation of these miserable, tiny insects killed my first hive and I’m trying hard to prevent future issues for my girls.
The install went well, even if we did forget to take out a few frames before dumping them on the hive box. I propped up the lid with rocks for a few hours to give them a chance to move on in.
And just like that I’m a bee keeper again…with a new phone case to prove it.

While we were at the bee shop I picked up a treat to celebrate. Here’s to a brand new year of learning and, hopefully, succeeding in the beautiful art of beekeeping.