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Gallery:

This is my delivery of three 3-pound packages of honey bees. Can you hear their buzzing?
This is the inside of Guy Hodges delivery van. Can you imagine driving around with thousands and thousands of bees?
Guy is explaining about the bee packages. The suspended can contains sugar syrup to feed the bees during transit. The little cage is for the queen and is lowered down from the top of the package.
This is what the queen cages look like.
The queens have been marked with a special blue bee pen. The other bees surrounding each queen are called nurse bees and are caring for the queen bees.
I decided to situate the hives in a new location this year.
Alfredo is preparing the hive top feeder, which holds sugar syrup. When consumed, the syrup stimulates the bees' wax glands so they can make new comb.
Guy is showing how the frames fit into the hive body. Each frame comes with a layer of foundation wax for the bees to build comb upon.
Guy has removed a few of the frames to make room for the influx of bees. He is spraying them with sugar syrup to calm them down.
He is now removing the syrup can.
Next, the queen cage is pulled out of the bee package.
Guy is showing the end of the queen cage. The round exit hole is blocked with a 'candy' plug. It will take the bees in the hive about 6 days to eat through the plug to release the queen. By that time, they will be used to her scent and will welcome her into the hive instead of killing her.
Guy suspends the queen cage between two frames.
Guy turns to package over and begins shaking the bees out into the hive body.
So many bees are buzzing about!
The bee package is nearly empty.
Once the frames are set back in place and the bees have settled in, Guy positions the hive top feeder above.
Next the hive is topped off.
Moving on fill another hive, Guy noticed something unusual in this bee package.
Guy reached in and pulled out a comb that the bees had been busy constructing during the 3 days they had spent in this package.
Honey bees are simply amazing!
The bees quickly acclimate to their new hives. The entrance to the hives face south as protection from storms, which usually come from the north. Also, the sun warms one side of the hive in the morning and the other side in the afternoon, keeping an even internal temperature.
Three new and busy hives. We will add another level to each hive when the first ones are well-established.

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Martha's Photo Albums
    • Partying in style with Sean 'Diddy' Combs

      Partying in style with Sean 'Diddy' Combs Nov 20, 2009 Read the Original

    • A Puerto Rican Evening

      A Puerto Rican Evening Nov 20, 2009 Read the Original

    • A Pie Contest

      A Pie Contest Nov 18, 2009 Read the Original

    • A tag sale at my offices - Prada, Escada, Ralph Lauren and more

      A tag sale at my offices - Prada, Escada, Ralph Lauren and more Nov 17, 2009 Read the Original

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  • http://twitpic.com/qa4t4 - Sean 'Diddy' Combs check out more photos from his 40th Birthday party on my blog http://bit.ly/6ni5wW 5 hours ago
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