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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Bee-Mobile

I do love our CX-5. Oh so useful! Looks quite normal from the front. Innocuous, even.
But in the back this morning?



Several thousand cranky honeybees! Jane made the valid point yesterday that this car could be considered a weapon of mass destruction. 


Hmmm, we apparently need another trip to the car wash.

I got out early today and put the bees in their little nuc boxes. They weren't thrilled, but no one tried to sting me.

My drive up to my friend Pierre's place was uneventful. No one rear-ended me or even tailgated me. In fact, the rural roads were almost empty! Two bees did escape but the followed the nuc boxes out when I unloaded the car at Pierre's.



The girls were ITCHING to get out and very happy to have the screening off the hive entrances.



I set them up on a table and Pierre will be installing the queens this afternoon. Fingers crossed that the queens take and all goes well! In case you're wondering, there's no law saying that beehives have to bee white. In fact, if you have more than one hive, it's a good idea to paint them different colours so that the bees can differentiate between hives. Otherwise, you get more bees drifting between hives.



In a week or so, maybe more, these girls will be coming home to me, and I will install them in full-size hive boxes.

And on a non-bee note...

Last night we went for a run around the park in Alexandria. The mill pond was still as glass and very pretty!




The tulips were looking mighty fine at sunset!


20 comments:

  1. I'm getting a mental image of thousands of worker bees repeatedly asking their queens, "Are we there yet?"

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    Replies
    1. They must wonder what the heck happened! It's like an alien picked them up and transported them to another world!

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  2. The bottom image is the bee's knees!
    Jane x
    PS. Sorry!

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  3. Ooo yay! Bees! Aren't they pretty! That beautiful evening looks so serene!

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    Replies
    1. It was a really nice time to go for a run!

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  4. Anonymous8:38 pm

    Used to have your email but it's lost. Something for you to see at my blog:
    http://theobsessivechef.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Now I have a question that you might answer in part of a future post. I can see how the bee legs load up with pollen and keep the pollen as they fly. I'm wondering how they get the pollen out of the little compartments?

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    Replies
    1. An excellent question! They scrape it out with their other legs (and they put it IN the "baskets" on their legs with their other legs too.

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  6. Another interesting read and I love those white tulips.

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    1. They do a nice job with the gardens at that park and the gardener is legally blind. Unfortunately they just eliminated his position, but there was quite the outcry so it's possible he's been reinstated. I need to check on that!

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  7. Cute little hives. I can see the 'hippy' in you painting them in bee-utiful colours.

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    Replies
    1. I could go crazy with that! :)

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  8. To bee or not to bee! Love the tulips and the road trip, XOXO

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    Replies
    1. I figured I'd be fine so long as no one rear-ended me! :)

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  9. We had to drive our nuc home when we got it, about an hour drive. I was terrified! My husband actually got stung on the top of his head when loading the nuc because a bee escaped and got caught in his hair. Poor guy. A couple more escaped when we first drove off so we had to stop the car and get them out. It was pretty stressful! Glad to hear your drive went well.

    Those tulips are really pretty, especially with the light of the sunset.

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  10. So, this is what is meant by "picture perfect"!

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  11. Woohoo for the girls in the hives and for the tulips in the flower beds!

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  12. Those tulips are glorious!

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!