Today I went on a little excursion to pick up my second colony of bees, a complete three box mature hive with drawn comb and a brand new queen. They were purchased from an 85 year old German beekeeper who after 60 years of keeping bees has decided to retire. I went a bit early to observe the banding of the hives in order to get them ready to transport, and I was able to get some photos of the process.

I feel really privileged to be able to take over this hive of bees from such a seasoned keeper, and even more lucky that he has offered to mentor me on an ongoing basis if needed. He is quite close by and has many years of bee knowledge under his belt.

My hive is the third one from the left in the above photo, with the brick on top.

So it looks like I officially have all my starter bees! As it was cloudy today, I decided not to hive my nuc yet and will wait until the next sunny day which should be Thursday. I learned a lot today and can’t wait to dig into my new hive and check it all out! Thank you so much to the other volunteer beekeepers who helped me get it home!