How do you get the bees from their original colony into your hive? What the new beekeeping course didn’t prepare me for, suddenly being a beekeeper!

Collection day has arrived, and I admit to having a few moments over the weekend where I thought ‘is this a good idea?, can I really look after these bees? and am I going to change my mind once I get stung!?!’

I had arranged to collect a Nuc (nucleus colony), a small scale version of the larger colony complete with a mated queen, from a fellow beekeeper at my local association. Nucs can come in all different sizes and I was informed that mine would be a 6 frame nuc in a polystyrene box that I was only borrowing, it had to go back to the beekeeping club the following week. So not only was I collecting new bees and somehow getting them into my hive, I now had a time pressure to do this. Would my bees even want to move into the hive? Would I be taking a full nuc box back and admitting I had failed at step one???

Can you hear buzzing?

I packed up the car, a quick google search suggested I take my veil, smoker and an old duvet cover – not sure what the duvet cover was for but took it anyway. On arrival I was handed a box of bees and reminded the box had to be returned next week. Yes, I think I have understood that bit. That was it, I was now a beekeeper! I grasped this humming box of activity very cautiously and walked to the car. I had decided now was a good idea to introduce myself to the bees so at this point I am talking to the box. “Hi Girls, I’m Emma and I will be looking after you, I hope you lot know what you are doing.” Into the car it went. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted the duvet cover in the picture, you get a bonus point if you have correctly identified it as a very faded My Little Pony duvet cover, perhaps betraying my age!

Nothing in the beekeeping course prepared me for what came next – the drive home! A box of a few thousand bees buzzing in the boot of my car. Are they secure? What if they escape? Do I drive on? Is that a bee on the window???

The drive home was probably the most cautious and slowest I had driven in a while. Every turn or bump had me straining to hear if the buzzing was getting louder. Why did I pick the bumpy way home? Ok, it was quicker but on this occasion speed was not the important thing. Five minutes from home, I suddenly realised what the duvet cover was for, put the box inside the cover and tie it shut so if they do escape…..

And just like that Cleo and the Girls were home, the #BeesatBluebell