A Bee Extravaganza

Hive 5 just after installation; 11 May 2026.

Wow.

Remember when I won the hive in the raffle at the final in-person meeting of the Beekeeping class I took from the Lehigh Valley Beekeepers Association? And I took it as a sign that we were supposed to stick with this beekeeping endeavor in spite of our first hive dying right at the end of winter?

Well, imagine my surprise when I received an email from the PSU Extension at the beginning of April, asking if I’d be interested in participating in a study of novice beekeepers. As part of the program, I would receive two complete hives, a bee jacket (with veil), bee gloves, a smoker, a hive tool, and two bee packages.

Honestly? It was such an amazing opportunity, a part of me thought it must be a trick. It couldn’t be legitimate, could it? I mean…what are the chances I was going to get to participate in a study (I find that fun and fascinating) and suddenly expand our apiary to five hives?!?

Well, it turns out it actually was a real thing. This past weekend I attended a ‘Field Day’ at which I met the other study participants, as well as a number of beekeeping experts and people associated with Penn State’s Extension Service, including Robyn Underwood, Ph.D., the author of the Extension’s publications Beekeeping Basics and A Field Guide to Honey Bees and Their Maladies, and a myriad other articles. She taught in both beekeeping courses I took, and was also a featured speaker at a beekeeping event Karl and I attended in New Jersey last autumn.

So, to me, Dr. Underwood is a beekeeping rock star. I was delighted and excited to meet her and have a chance to watch her ‘in the apiary,’ so to speak.

By the time I got home with all of my accoutrements, it was too late to set up the hives and install the bees in their new homes. Besides, I like to take my time installing a package in a hive, having only done it four times total. It’s easy to get a bit flustered when dumping 12,000 bees into a hive and all of them start flying around willy nilly, all in a tizzy. I like to be really methodical, deliberate, and calm.

One thing led to another yesterday and I simply (again) didn’t have the bandwidth to do it when the weather was most conducive. And then it started to rain, and I obviously didn’t want to install them then.

So today was the day. And wow, did the weather end up cooperating. The sunshine and lack of any wind late this afternoon created ideal conditions to move the bees into their new homes. I should note, there was an abundant repast waiting for the bees, as I filled up the feeders in both hives with 10 cups of 1:1 sugar water before starting the procedure.

Here are a few photos and videos I took of the process. I should note: my videographer/bee partner is currently ‘indisposed,’ so you’ll have to rely on my haphazard attempts to document my efforts. I miss you, Karl!

Here are the two queens, extricated from their respective ‘packages’:

Hive 4's Blue-marked Queen (l) and Hive 5's (r)

Here is the ‘staging’ of Hive 4’s installation. Note: Hive 5 had already been installed and is in the background.

Here is a little video showing that all the bees had eventually found their way out of their respective packages (both had had some clustering in a corner of each box – you know, those bees who ‘hadn’t felt like it’ when asked to move into their new hive).

And finally, a little slow motion video of the bees at Hive 4, doing their dance in which they swoop in circles and get their bearings on where their hive is in relationship to everything else.