Here is the story about getting and installing the bees. They have come all the way from New Zealand and were shipped by our supplier to a local beekeeper. My bee buddy Bill, his son Rick, Agnes, Duncan, and I drove to pick up our bees, which have already been put together with their queen to get accustomed to each other.

The bees come in boxes with two sides covered by a net. I can feel the heat that they generate.

Agnes is holding three of the boxes, which are stabled together for shipment. We take the stables out and divide the boxes among ourselves. I got two. Agnes also is getting two – it is her second year. She is an experienced "new-bee" now.

We have put the first hive outside. We are lucky. It is cool but sunny. The bees are still in their shipment container. Duncan, who is also a first-year beekeeper, Bill (my "bee buddy"), and Agnes just prior to Bill "shaking" the first box to move the bees into their new housing.

 
Bill is holding the queen in her cage. He removes some of the sugar that is preventing her to take off. The bees are already in the hive. Ric is holding the eighth frame to put into the hive – there are still insulation pieces on either side, each of which will be replaced by another frame when it warms up a bit and when the bees require more place for the eggs.

After transplanting the first queen and box of bees, Bill says, "Okay buddy, you are on your own. My heart dropped. But then, everyone else was laughing. He had pulled my leg. But he let me shake the second set of bees into their hive.

 
Bill is pushing andholding the frames in place – they have to hold the queen cage up. I lower the box. Oh no! I dropped the queen cage.

I am lowering the inner cover with the jar of sirup, and an empty super.

 
Luckily Bill reaches in between the frames and gets it out again.I am holding the nearly empty travel container. I will place them into the empty super once Bill will have finished re-placing the queen cage.

Bill gives me some last instructions. Then I am really on my own.

The two hives filled with bees and a queen each on the old palette. Bill suggested making a "landing area." At the moment, it is placed there by hand. Later I will make something more permanent.

Some bees are out in the sun. They will go into the hive, as it is still cool outside (about 4 °C) despite the sun. This will be their home from now on. I hope we have a good year for them.

 
In the late afternoon, I am checking out some of the bees I have found just outside the hive, dead, on the ground. They come in very different sizes. Bill tells me that the large one is a drone . . .

. . . and I also detect some different coloring.