The Bees Arrive in Pudsey !

At around 7pm on the 21st June - we had a call from Bill Cadmore (of Bradford BeeKeepers Assoc) saying he had arrived in Pudsey with both of our colonies.  It was turning out to be a rather chaotic and rushed introduction, after such a long period of waiting - but then I guess a lot of 'beginnings' are like that . . .

Liz was the first on the scene, and by the time Hannah & Gil arrived with most of the equipment and feed, Bill & Liz had already commandeered the farmer to drive them down to the hives in his landrover (thereby earning himself another complimentary jar of honey).

After a quick final inspection of the bees, Bill "knocked" them off their 'foundation boards' (containing all their food stores and young larva) and into the bottom of their new homes  -  which was still practically an "empty box".  Hannah & Gil had just managed to make up some sugar syrup feed - but after trying all day to get the plastic feeders to work, we had to resort to just using sealed up sandwich/freezer bags with puncture holes in.

and that was that. We closed up the hives apart from one entrance hole to let the flying bees get back to the colonies, and had to leave them to it.  A very anxious wait lay ahead . . .