Asa and I are buzzing with excitement because our new Honey Bees have arrive safe and sound to their new hive. As with previous years, these Honey Bees are from an apiary in Georgia. A fellow beekeeper did the long roundtrip drive from Maine to Georgia to pick them up and deliver them. They arrived in their own special travel box, complete with food, a Queen protected her cage, and according to the apiary that packaged them, approximately 10,000 bees!

First step to welcoming them to their new home was for Dad to open their travel box by removing the can that contained their food for the trip.

That in turn released the bees from inside their travel nuc box.

Some began to inspect and move into their new Chuck BEEly hive immediately.

While other stayed close to their Queen, trapped in her individual travel cage.

Here is a closer look at the Queen Bee within her travel cage. There is candy at the top to keep the Queen inside during her trip so she won’t escape before moving into her new hive. It is the job of her Nurse Bees to eat the candy to release her after Dad places the travel cage in the new hive. That usually takes a few days.

After Dad removed the plug keeping the bees from the candy, he then moved the Queen to the hive, and attached the cage to a frame inside, as more Honey Bees follow.

Then Dad gently rebuilt the hive, making sure they have what remains of their travel food, as well as a jar of sugar water and a pollen patty as extra food added to the hive. They’ll no doubt be hungry after their long journey, and our early spring flowers are slow to bloom this year.

Next we just wait, while the Honey Bees happily move into their new hive, release their Queen inside of it, and start foraging for food in our yard.

And a word of warning to everyone from the neighborhood Bear to the smallest Mites, BUZZ OFF! Don’t you dare mess with my Chuck BEEly Bees!