Three-bees

So Harvey suggested that I should contact Barry, my beekeeping mentor and supplier, and find out if he has any extra packages of bees left over from his weekend of bee pick ups. I left Barry e-mail and a text message yesterday and when I didn't hear from him, I figured I would bee content with my two hives. Today, at dinnertime, I got a call that he did in fact have one package of bees that had gone unclaimed and he had the extra parts (feeder, inner lid, telescoping outer lid, bottom screen) that would allow me to start another hive. I have extra hive bodies waiting to be needed by hives one and two, so one of those will become the hive body to hive three.

Harvey and I headed off for Canal Winchester to pick up the newbees and when we returned home we hurried out in the rain to a soggy, muddy future meadow to put down pea gravel and level a pad for the new hive before the sun set. We then slapped paint on the new hive parts that need protection from the elements, I whipped up another batch of syrup and all that remains for me to do tomorrow is to figure out how to install the package, in the forecasted rain, most likely by myself.

Barry did tell me this package of bees is a different kind; they have webbed feet. Actually, the bees don't care about moving into their new digs on a rainy day and the last I checked, I'm waterproof.