There was some last minute hither and thither on Wednesday whether Patrick would be able to deliver the nucs due to the weather, but just when I thought the stress might be ebbing, he confirmed he would be bringing them round as planned.
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| Patrick delivering two nucs |
I met up with my three pupil assistants and their wellies in good time before Patrick was due to arrive. Another member of staff was with me, as was the walkie-talkie. The children were visibly excited and asked lots of questions about the arrival of the bees, most of which I was able to answer. I ran through what I imagined would happen so they would be prepared.
As soon as Patrick arrived, we dashed to the garden shed to put on the bee suits. It was then I discovered that S on a normally sized child is huge, that XS is not much better and a small child can get lost in an XXS suit. So with tons of baggy material to spare, the children were ready - and protected. The three children watched as Patrick lifted the frames from the nuc into our hives. The air was full of bees, but the children, though slightly uneasy, held their ground and seemed more interested than frightened. Patrick checked that the queen was present and showed her to the children. They were noticeably excited at seeing the 'headmistress' of the hive. Afterwards Patrick took out a huge brush and swept all stragglers into their respective hive. The children (as I) were quite surprised that you can just sweep up bees like spilt lunch.
Although the bees had been locked up all day, they were a pardigm of calm. Perhaps the sunshine contributed to their soporific buzzing.
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| Checking for the queen |
We kept the varroa floor out and the entrances wide open so that the bees would more easily find their way into the hive. In the evening I then put the floors back in and left only a narrow entrance open.
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