Zen with the Queen

Today is the day the queen should be released. I am so excited, yet a bit fearful. If she is dead, it could mean hive collapse for these ambitious bees. Most people check on their hive with a smoker, but I don't have one yet. My friend Keith couldn't come over with his smoker so the choice was to go buy one or suit up and help the bees. At some point one has to suit up and do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, even without the crutch of the smoker. At least I have gloves and a veil. Besides, if I am going to be a bee keeper, I have to start trusting the bees to know how to interact with me. I suited up, went out, opened up the hive so smoothly that the bee on the lid remained. I removed the bars in the middle, the divider board, and could see the queen cage I had hung with green raffia had fallen.

NO!

There were bees on each side of the screen. I picked it up careful and felt a bee squirm under my finger. I moved my finger and she was fine. Before walking out I put my hive tool and some snub nose pliers in my pocket. When I looked closer at the cage I could see they had almost eaten through the candy, but it would be another day at least. Instead of leaving it be (pun intended). I carefully lifted the queen cage with all the bees on it and could see 6 live bees inside with one dead. The dead one was not the queen, this queen was elegant, dark, unmarked, but obviously by her size, the queen. I believe she is Italian while my bees are All American. I gently pried open the screen with my snub nose pliers being careful not to lose my grip, not to disturb the bees, and not to squish any of the ladies. I said hello to the queen then gently shook them all out. The bees immediately started guiding the queen toward the new comb. I had divided the 20 bars of the top bar into ten by placing a divider after number ten. When I removed the divider I could see they were festooning and making comb all the way to bar 7 where the queen had been hung. They incorporated the raffia into their comb.

Martha Stuart has nothing on these girls.

The bottom of the cage was clean, unlike that first time Keith and I checked and it looked like Hiroshima. My scooping out the major part of the dead bees that had fallen out of the package bees cage was the right thing to do. It left the house bees less to do so they could focus on comb. The bees are collecting pollen and nectar, also I have seen them drink water. They are doing everything they should do. My next job is to check the comb to make sure they are making correct comb. I picked up the lid and the same bee was still resting on top. I placed the lid on and snoozed right through it. Today was monumental for me. I realize that it is the last regular day of school for my daughter who is a junior in high school. I will have to trust that she knows how to carry herself, even as she goes from home to college. In the meantime, while some people have empty nest syndrome, I will have a whole different kind of nest.