New BeeZee's

Our BeeZee's--what Aurora lovingly calls bees :)--didn't do so great last year.  It was pretty disappointing for everyone.  The original hive we got two years ago is still going strong, but on its second queen.  We started a second hive last year which started out okay but after a couple weeks the queen somehow went MIA and we ended up going through 3 or 4 queens just for that one hive--that hive died over the winter.  Either way, we didn't get to harvest any honey last year, but apparently it was a bad honey year for a lot of people.  BIG bummer!

A few weeks ago, we picked up another new package of bees to try out a second hive again this year.  Aurora got her first bee sting at the warehouse where we picked up the bees.  It was pretty sad, but she did awesome! She was even excited about it when Dar congratulated her on her first bee sting.  Haha.  She still tells people she got her first "bee stung" and shows her fingers.  It was a good starter-sting because we're pretty sure the bee was dead--she just fell on it and got the stinger in her finger but she didn't get the full impact of the venom.  Her finger was a bit red and a little swollen for a while, but Dar was just thrilled she doesn't seem to be allergic :)

Installing the new bees this year went a lot more smooth compared to last year's experience, just because the sugar water can came out so well this time.  Dar was pretty happy about it, and we're all hoping and praying we get a good honey harvest this year!

Thousands of bees huddled in that tiny box and ready for a new home!

Dar's cute audience sitting a safe distance away, just in case :)

Removing the sugar water

Taking out the queen box

Slamming the box down to get all the bees down to the bottom--it doesn't hurt them, and they don't even really get mad either, surprisingly.

The rest of the pictures came out fuzzy for some reason, but after that he just shook the bees into the hive box, fed them a pollen patty and gave them some more sugar water to help them get started on making that delicious and nutritious honey!  So far they seem happy and busy--hopefully a good sign and hopefully we'll have better luck this year!