The Solaris Hive

The Bees Have Landed!

I got the call from Chris last Friday while I was at work: the bees had arrived! This was the moment I had been waiting and dreaming about for months...and with over 2 hours before I was scheduled to get off, I was hardly able to contain my excitement! Luckily, I found a staff to relieve me so I was able to rush home and check them out. Here's what they looked like when I got there:

I can only imagine how happy the postman must have been to be taking a ride with 12,000 bees!  Hah! Tya had tried to warn him the day before the deliverey, but I don't think her "we're expecting a box of bees to be arriving any day now" was really registering with him...Oh, we really are an odd bunch here at The Warrens...

So, we spent a few minutes psyching ourselves up, Tayissa hurried to finish sewing up our bee hats (yeah, that might be a good thing to have, right?), and we were out the door to introduce the girls to their new home. Just as we were walking out the door the clouds split and the sunshine came pouring down (just for us, it seemed)...Tayissa was hit with a stroke of inspiration, and our hive found its name: The Solaris Hive.

Despite all of the time spent psyching ourselves up, the installation went smoothly, with neither a hitch nor a sting! The bees were mellow and seemed to take to their new home wonderfully!

Jamila came by the next day and brought with her some beautiful ground cover to plant all around the hive. We enjoyed a lovely Beltane outside with our hands in the earth, putting in Lily of the Valley and Oaxalis, and creating a peaceful glen next to the hum of the hive.

Yesterday we were out again to check on the hive and see if the queen had been released from her queen cage. The sun was again shining and the bees were so much more active! It was an exhilerating experience, standing in the midst of a cloud of buzzing bees! Once again the girls proved themselves to be friendly, and far too busy to worry about us milling around their hive. The queen was released and the workers were already starting to pull comb! It took a few minutes, but we were even able to locate the queen on one of the frames, and boy was she beautiful! She was quick, however, and scurried back under a pile of bees before we could snap this picture:

 So far everything seems to be going well, and I am so incredibly excited about this new adventure. It is enthralling to be near them and to hear their beautiful vibrations.