Swarm

We were very lucky to have been given some bees yesterday.  A swarm that was captured on Friday.  We picked them up yesterday morning and drove them over to my parent's house to install them.  It's a little trickier transferring bees when they aren't on your frames.  We had to shake and brush them all into our hive.  Hopefully queenie made it unharmed.  We'll know in a few days when we check for eggs.  It was a huge colony and we're hoping with some TLC (sugar syrup and pollen patties) that they will take off and be self sufficient for winter.  Then next two photos were taken just after the transfer.

All three of our colonies.  We pulled the middle hive apart and removed the lowest box (nothing going on in there) to consolidate and make it shorter and easier to work with.  We could not believe how many bees were in there - every box full of bees.
The hive closest in this photo has had a slow start.  I gave them brood from the strong hive a few weeks ago, which has boosted their numbers.  The queen was replaced and she is laying really well.  But it's late in the season to not have any honey stores.  We decided to feed them as well and we can always combine them with the new hive if we need to in late summer.

I've been doing all the beekeeping on my own this year, and it was so nice to have Aaron help me yesterday.  It's such a joy to be able to share it with someone, and always nice to talk out what the plan is.  We're hoping to make it to our first Willamette Valley Beekeepers meeting tonight to network and learn.