|
The gear arrives on site, brought by "The Bee Man" |
More than three years ago, before we
moved to Montana, the dream was planted in our oldest daughter's heart
to pursue beekeeping as a hobby. If I remember correctly, she mentioned
it casually in a conversation one day. That week, I grabbed a book
from the library for her — "Beekeeping for Dummies", I think (though
she's certainly no dummy). From that point on, she began a voracious
appetite for knowledge about bees... an "independent study program", if
you will. So naturally, upon arriving in these
wide open spaces,
she wanted to take the plunge and acquire a colony of her own, ASAP.
Being big fans of local honey, the Dear Bride and I agreed we would help
her pursue the matter, in God's timing.
As
it turned out, we have become acquainted with a wonderful family with
much experience in the the Bee-o-sphere (among many other skills like
canning/preserving, gardening, etc). The Dad is someone I also happen
to work with at my job with the Martin City Water District, near Glacier
National Park. Anyway, to make a long story short, this "Bee Man" (not
his real name, of course :-) has hooked us up with his supplier, and our adventurous daughter now has her own colony!
|
The two boxes with the removable frames inside, will make up Emily's
hives. The other box — the screened one with the can of sugar syrup in
the middle — will be discarded once the colony is transferred to the
hives. |
|
The queen was lucky enough to get her own little "travel suite" for the journey, which the workers are quick to cluster around |
|
Look closely... the queen inside the box has a green dot on her back, indicating that she's young, and ready to do her job. |
|
Getting ready to shake them in |
|
The stragglers need a little more persuasion |
|
Mama and the girls look on... |
|
Emily is fearless! :-O |
|
Looks like the girls want to join F.B.K.A.... |
|
"Future Bee Keepers of America" :-) |
|
"If you build it, they will come." |
The next day, we went to check on "the ladies" to see if their queen had situated herself... She had! The weather was cold and breezy, which helped calm the hive, it seemed.
Congratulations, dear daughter.
Wonderful... Congrats Emily! We had bees when I was a kid... A great experience!
ReplyDelete