Adventures in Beekeeping - Take Two

OK, so, last year did not end well with the Bees. We killed the Queen on accident and could never just get another to establish itself and get the colony happy again.   My heart still hurts a little. By the end of the season we ended up giving the rest of the bees to a fellow beekeeper who added them to his hive to overwinter.  I couldn't see just letting them all die off alone.

This year, we are starting off early and way more prepared.  B has been working really hard on creating the ultimate beehives.  These have easy access, with minimum molestation should we need to move things around, they're insulated,  and ultimately, they are pretty huge, to accommodate as a lot of bees before we need to start adding anything.  The main goal is to have it set up so that we can just leave them alone to do their thing.  I think our main mistake last year was messing with them too much in our quest to make sure everything was OK.

So other than a coat of paint, these puppies are ready to go!  Bees should be arriving on the 12th or so...