Settling into the New Hive

I transferred the bees to their new hive yesterday while the weather was warm. Garbed up in my beesuit, veil and gloves I opened up the nucleus hive and began to carefully transfer the combs one by one. The bees did get rather agitated, and it was then that I realised I'd forgotten to prepare and light the smoker! So I remedied this problem as quickly as I could and carried on with the aid of the smoker. I added a couple of empty top bars between some of the combs, and a couple at the end of the row of combs, and placed a mix of chamomile teas and sugar in a feeder inside the hive under the empty combs to help the bees on their way. Although they did get a bit angry at the disturbance, and one of the bees followed me back to the house buzzing round my head somewhat angrily, they soon settled down again, and before long were all about their usual business. Maybe the chamomile tea calmed them down a bit too.

Settled into the new hive

They found their way in and out no problem

Through the observation window