Drama Queens!

Thursday, 1:00pm: Sent a text to my hive host in Ann Arbor, letting him know I'm going to come by and set up my cinder blocks in preparation for my bees arrival on Saturday. I still have two days, which is plenty of time to set up the site.

Thursday, 7:00pm:  En route to his house, with a car full of cinder blocks and 4x4s, my host calls me to let me know that there have been some issues at home and that his 10 year relationship is ending (which is sad), he will be moving out,  and that he suggests I find a Plan B for my own hives. I'm free to install them there, but they'll eventually have to move.  Oh, and by the way, the hive next to which I'm going to put mine is super hot and ornery and attacks anything and anyone in a 20 foot radius so I'd better wear all my protective clothing. Not my idea of friendly neighbors. I keep driving past his house, and head toward home.

Thursday, 7:05pm:  Hang up the phone with my host. Look at phone. There's an email from the bee supplier..."THE BEES ARE HERE EARLY! COME GET YOUR BEES NOW!"  Shit. They're here and I don't even have the nursery ready.

Thursday, 7:25pm:  Back to my house, I run in to take a couple of tums for the ridiculous indigestion I'm now feeling. 

Thursday, 7:30pm : Grab phone, run back to car to go to Napoleon, MI (a/k/a middle of nowhere) to pick up my bees. on the way out of the neighborhood, I see my beekeeper neighbor, Andy, working in his yard. I stop by to ask him if the girls will be ok in their package for an extra two days, and can I bring them in the house, or do I have to leave them outside. I use extra flaily hand gestures to indicate the level to which I am freaking out.  Andy is calm, and says, yes, I can bring them in the house, they'd like that. Also says when I get them home, I should spray them with a little water, as they're probably thirsty. He said they'll stick their little tongues through the screen to get to the water. He was right, and they were adorable.  Also said they'll be absolutely fine for a couple of days. Good. Thank you. Off I go.

Thursday, 8:30pm:  Arrive at bee supplier. Notice I don't have my purse. Make note to self to drive slower on the way home.  Wonder what else I've forgotten. I check in at the office and go out to the truck where a nice young man in a bee suit (a beekeeper's suit, not a bee costume) picks up two packages and puts them in my car. No government approved car seat required. There they are, Myrtle and Maud and all their attendants. I still haven't decided which one's Myrtle and which one's Maud. They're quiet, which I didn't expect. 

Thursday, 9:30pm:  At home now with my girls. I mist them with some water. They're tired, hungry and thirsty, and crowded as hell in their boxes. I stay up until midnight making sugar syrup for their feeders.  I test a little on my wrist to make sure it's not too hot, and give them a couple sprays of syrup for a bedtime snack. I collapse into bed, unable to sleep a wink. 

Friday morning before work:  I notice that one of the packages doesn't have nearly as many bees clinging to the sides, and that there seems to be an inordinate amount of dead bees on the bottom. I can see right through the package, whilst with the other one, the sides are completely coated with bees and they're somewhat active. I can't see through it at all. I worry if spraying them with sugar water made them stick together and wonder if they'll get themselves unstuck. (no, they're just dead) I'm still frazzled from yesterday and nearly get out the door before realizing I'm not wearing any shoes. 

Friday morning, at work:  I still have a job, so I'm trying to get some work done. Not too easy. I frantically post something to Reddit asking for calming words or advice on what to do about the second package. I also post something to the bee company's facebook page. The owner called me directly and said I could bring the package back and he'll give me another, more active one. Huh? Who knew I could just take them back and exchange them? I'm feeling slightly guilty because I'd kind of already bonded with them, and it's not like parents can take their kid back and get another one, right? Well, these aren't humans, and I'd like to have as healthy a package to start off with as possible.  He tells me to come on out, preferably today. He'll set aside a nice, healthy package for me.

Meanwhile, I tell my coworker about the drama with the site host, complete with flailing, and she tells me her friend in Tecumseh has a really big yard, and that she and her husband are kind of crunchy and would probably like to have bees on their property. She emails her friend and within mere minutes, her friend says an emphatic YES! to the bees, but oh, wait, maybe she should check with her husband first...you know, just to be polite.  Husband comes back with another emphatic YES!. I think about it for a minute... Tecumseh is about 40 minutes away, but then I look at the google earth view and realize that their property is absolutely perfect for bees. A nice southern face, lots of fruit trees and gardens nearby, in small town with lots of trees and gardens, and most importantly, no big agriculture in the bees forage range.  Ladies and Drones, we have a new site! I'm not thrilled about the drive, but if my dad could drive from Columbus Ohio to pick me up, take me to Granny's for an hour, drive me home, and go back to Columbus, every weekend  when I was a kid, then I could drive 35 miles for my girls. 

By now it's evident that I'm going to need the afternoon off. Rain is in the forecast and I need to get these girls in their hives as soon as possible. My boss ok'd the time and off I go. I stop home to get the weak package. I've decided that the other package is going to be Myrtle, because that was the first name I picked out, and it's a healthy package. The weak one is Maud. Maud and I head back to Napoleon where I bid her adieu and good luck, and pick up Maud II. She's super active and full of healthy bees. 

Friday afternoon:  I get home with Maud II and pack the car with all of the hive equipment I'll need, plus extra veils, all the sugar syrup feeders, extra long sleeved clothing just in case, a sharpie so I can mark the frames, and whatever else I think I'll need. I also have to stop off at Lowes to get a bag of cedar chips and some tie down straps, and something to keep water in close to the hives. Remembered to put both packages in the car.

Friday evening:  My new hostess, whose name is also Melissa, greets me in the driveway with a hug. She's simply fabulous! She walked me out to the site and shows me around. It's perfect. She lets me drive my car (her lot is 1700 feet long!) back there so I don't have to lug 6 cinder blocks a quarter mile. I get the stands set up and proceed to install the first package, Myrtle. The installation goes pretty smoothly, and I'm able to release the Queen Myrtle into the hive with no problem. I put the feeders on and close her up. The girls sit on the front porch with their butts in the air, signaling that "this is home now, and the queen's in here, come on in". Good sign. 

Now I go to install NewMaud. She's in her cage with a couple of attendant bees. I tried to get the cork out of the one end to expose the candy plug. I can't get it out, so I try to push it all the way in instead, except I pushed a little too hard. Of the three bees in the cage, I squished and killed only one. The Queen. Are you kidding me?? I KILLED the QUEEN?!?! Now what?!  The hive can't survive without a queen. They cant't even build a new one because they don't have any brood to build from. They need a queen to lay the eggs in the first place, and now she's dead. What the hell? I put her lifeless body on the bottom of the hive, and dumped the package on top of her. I figured I'd make another trip out to Napoleon in the morning and get another queen.

Melissa's son and his pal come back to check out the bees. I give them a quick Bee Safety 101 course, and promise that when they're all settled in and running smoothly, I'll suit them up and show them how it all works. They were fascinated and thought it was the coolest thing ever. They were even good enough to haul back a big bucket of water for me and fill it with sticks so the bees will have something to land on. Bees love to drown themselves, apparently. Her husband and neighbor joined us and we watched the girls buzzing around, finding their way to their new home to unpack and start building furniture. I called the bee supply place and left a message about me killing my queen and do they have another one. 

Bee place calls me back, said they're still open and if I come now, they'll stay open for me. They have lots of extra queens.  It's only 30 miles down the road. Piece of cake. On my way, I realize I'm very thirsty. I contemplate stopping off for some food and some water, (haven't eaten, or peed, since noon) but opt not to because I need to get the queen and get her into the hive before dark, and before it rains. I can eat later. 

When I walked into the bee place, I said "I'm the idiot who killed her queen". Steve, the owner, was in stitches, wondering how the hell I managed that. He even took the cork out for me and gave me a rubber band so I could fix her to the frame. "Candy up, facing out". Ok, duly noted. They all joked that they'd be laughing about this one for quite a while...I made sure they got the correct spelling of my name for their Facebook post. 

By now it's 8;00 and daylight is running out. I fly back to Tecumseh (I have my purse with me this time) and decide to drive the car back to the hives to save time. It's starting to rain now. I think about putting on my bee jacket to stay dry but decide not to.  I got the lid off, pulled a frame and put the queen on it and secured her with the rubber band. The rain's coming down a little harder now. I'm scrambling to get the inner cover on without crushing any bees. They're milling around and don't feel like moving. "Come ON girls!" I shove them out of the way and put the inner cover on. It's raining a little harder. I get the outer cover on at the very second the sky opens up and pours buckets of water on me. If I hadn't gotten the cover on, I'd have drowned all my bees. 

WHEW!

It's done. They're installed, and they're fine. I have sugar syrup in my hair, and everything is sticky. Time to go home and eat something, drink about a gallon of water and go to bed. 

Saturday afternoon:  I fixed up some more syrup in case they needed it and went to see them this afternoon. They're doing great! Lots of activity at the hive entrances, and I see the girls making their orientation flights. I peeked in the tops and saw that they've found the feeders and everything looks normal. I even saw one girl with pollen on her legs! Yay! 

I'm a real beekeeper now!

Myrtle on the right (pink) and Maud III on the left.