The Great Bee Adventure

So it's official. We are beekeepers.

A friday afternoon a couple weeks ago we took off on our trip to Ocilla, Georgia via an overnight in Fitzgerald. The start of the trip was rocky - we got off a little late, had to take the Jeep - a.k.a. 'the wagon' - since my car is in the shop, had a tire issue, etc. Once we got on the road - cooler packed and windows down -  it was fantastic. There is something about a country drive through little town after little town that is so invigorating. I arranged to stay at a loft in the downtown Fitzgerald 'Home of the Wild Chicken Festival' because I called the only b&b and the owner was going out of town to Savannah, so I made friends and she suggested we call this salon downtown that has a loft above that they rent out. Go figure. So when we got into town took a walk around and met up with the folks who had the key to this great little completely redone loft within walking distance to a local pizza place and country restaurant. So we set our stuff down, and spent the rest of the night hanging out and drinking beers, exploring this new town, talking with the locals. See, Fitzgerald was established by Union Soldiers and has a fascinating history - but my favorite thing about it is that they have a colony of protected wild chickens that run wild throughout the City. There are the pretty roosters running around that roost in the trees at night. Who could resist that?



A Fitzgerald Rooster

 

Fitzgerald

So....after getting on the road in the morning, we headed to Ocilla - home of.......not much from what I could see...except for kids having bake sales, several stop lights, a grocery store, lots of people in rocking chairs on their porch, and the bee farm! We though we were lost when we hit the dirt road, but then we saw this and we knew we were on the right track!

And then we saw this and we really knew we were headed in the right direction!

We were met outside by the beekeeper and taken to the garage to pick up our bees and ask questions. She gave us some last minute tips and supplies and we were off! There were a bunch of bees buzzing around in the garage with us, the most I have ever been around:





  



Ready for the ride home!

When we got home I made some sugar syrup to put in our feeder (we'll need to supplement nectar since it is late in the season). Then we got in our suits and put our crate of bees into their new hive.



Me looking sexy in my bee suit. My neighbors think this is hysterical.

Dave looking sexy in his bee suit - the last time he's worn it!
He goes out to work with them in shorts like a crazy person. The neighbors think THAT is extra hysterical.

Me hiving the bees.



Dave and I in our gear.



Happy bees in the hive!



 A week after we put them in we had to check to make sure our queen had been released from her cage (she comes seperately from the rest of the bees and you hang her inside when you hive the bees) and she had! The hardest part in all of this is not messing with them too much - we are so curious as to what they are doing in there, but if you open it up every day you disturb them.

Last night I changed out the feeder - they have been going through lots of syrup which I take as a good sign. Soon I will get to add a second hive box to the existing one so that they have more room to grow. More pictures then. Try not to make too much fun of me in my suit.