The empty cage in which the queen had been shipped in.

Day 7 after installation is hive inspection day. This is when I get to check if the queen has been released from her cage and is laying eggs. Good news! The queen is free, and the cage that she came in can now be removed from the hive.

And I am just in awe. On closer inspection of the frames in the hive I discover that in seven short, little days these bees have been drawing out comb – a lot of it! They sure are productive little critters. At least 3 frames like the one below had comb (cells) drawn out and, there were eggs in the ones in the center. This means the queen is a healthy, active one which is excellent news for a strong, healthy hive.Around the outside of the egg cells were cells filled with orange-yellow pollen and some liquid honey looking substance. Honey is not technically honey until the cell is capped. It starts out as nectar. To prepare for storage, the bees will fan their wings over the nectar filled cells to evaporate and thicken the honey. (Nectar is 80% water and honey is about 14-18% water.)  Only then will they cap it. I find it incredible that the bees know exactly when the honey is at the correct water percentage. This is the miracle of nature. No special electronics and gadgets needed – just the ones nature gave them. Ingenious.

We saw the queen in this crowd for a second, but she moved fast, and was quickly covered by other bees.After inspecting and making sure all is well, it’s time to gently close up the hive again. Then I get to anxiously wait 11 long days to snoop on the hive again. Patience!

It’s been a dry April with only a trace of rainfall around here, but the garden still seems to be doing well. The plants in the back garden have become much taller and have filled into their spaces.

And I just love my young Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis). Not only is it drought and heat tolerant, (actually it resents wet soils) but it also looks stunning and the deer don’t like to feast on it in the least. It looks pretty good with the Mexican Feather grass too.

All summer long it sends out dozens of beautiful, large pink and lavender flowers that the hummingbirds, bumblebees and butterflies appreciate. What more could one ask for?The young buds seem to be popular with the local wildlife.

Since it looks like we may be going into another dry, hot summer I think I might have to invest in another one of these lovely trees.

A bee's eye view of the feast ahead...

The Winecup (Callirhoe involucrat) is coming along so nicely too. I just love its vivid colors. I seems to wind it’s way around the other plants, but in a gentle “I would like to snuggle with you” kinda way.

The Lantana and Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) are looking lovely!

Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticosa) in all its spring glory. I find it’s flowers so unique. The butterflies love it too. Plus it’s drought tolerant and deer resistant. What’s not to love!Here’s what the flowers look like up close. Very unique indeed.

Beekeeping has intrigued me since way back when my grandfather had a few hives on his property. I have great respect for bees. It continues to amaze me at how intelligent the colony is. The way each bee has a job to do and they do that with full commitment. As a unit they get the job done of building combs, raising young, protecting the hive, and collecting food. No backtalk, no fighting…sigh….we humans could learn so much.

The biology behind what goes into making honey has always been both complicated and extremely fascinating to me and so I signed up for a beginner beekeeping class back in November. I told myself that if I liked the class I would try to get me some bees!

In February I met a neighbor who is part of a county Beekeeper’s association and invited me to a meeting. Those are just about the friendliest, most helpful and convincing folk I have ever met; and before I knew it I was signed up to receive my first bee package in April. My head was spinning. A mad rush followed with us buying and building all the equipment and setting it up for the special day when I got to pick up my package of bees.

One package of bees = about 10,000 bees.

In the morning we finished painting the hive and set it up in a place facing east, with some shade in the afternoon since Texas summers are so hot.

At 1 pm we went to the bee association farm to collect our bees that had been driven all the way in from Louisiana at 7 in the morning. So they were tired too! They come in these cages, and believe it or not there were some bees on the outside of the cages clinging on all the way from Louisiana. We got a demonstration at the farm, where very patient bee wise-men showed us how to unpack a colony of bees into their new home hive. We stood around without any veil or protective clothing and watched. The bees in this kind of situation are usually not aggressive because most of the bees are not forager bees and they really don’t have any honey (liquid gold) or brood to protect. They are nurse and cleanup bees that do not know how to fly around outside too well yet. So the colony was very calm. Nobody got stung.Got home after a car ride of loud buzzing in the back seat and at 5 in the afternoon I geared up to release the colony.Here the hive is open and ready for the bees. Bees get sprayed down with water so they can’t fly for a couple of minutes as the box gets opened to remove the sugar water and queen.

After pulling out the syrup feeder and the queen (who is located in a special cage so the bees do not harm her in transit), and placing her in the hive, just shake, shake and shake all those bees into the hive. The buzzing gets to be even more intimidating at this time. Keep shaking! Till most of the bees are in the hive.

Now that’s a lot of bees!! See them making their way out of the bottom?

Brush the bees down so the lid can get on top without squishing too many bees. Come on girls – Move!

And Whew! The lid is on.

Now all it takes is adding some syrup water in the feeder and closing off the entrance a little so there is only a small entrance and all is done. In a week I will be opening up the hive again to make sure the bees have chewed through the candy cage the queen was in to release her. The cage protects the queen from the other bees as they will try to kill her until they get used to her scent. They will start chewing through the candy cage to get at her which will take a couple of days – just enough time for the bees to get used to the queen’s scent so that they will accept her and she can go ahead and lay those eggs. I wish the hive well. They will need all the luck since I am a novice ‘Beek’.

A completed hive, in afternoon shade. I can’t help worrying about them: Is the queen still alive? Did I accidentally squish too many bees? Will they be OK? Nothing like worrying about a swarm of insects to keep you up at night….

Ever wonder what things look like from behind, but too afraid to ask? Well if you ever have, here you go:

A Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) facing into the wind at South Padre Island. They do that so they can take off easily. Trust me, they are aptly named. They truly sound like they are laughing.We were quite amused at how they were all sitting in a group on the roof facing the same way…laughing.Here’s what the front end looks like. Aren’t they pretty?The butt end of a Bee scoping out the flowers of Indigo Spires Sage: The butt end of a Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa cardui):Here’s what the front end looks like:And the ‘butt’ end of the sun as it sets over Laguna Madre:  Going…Going…Gone!

Yesterday I was walking to my compost pile to drop off our household veggie and fruit scraps. As I approached the entire compost pile just started to flutter with butterflies feasting on the decomposing oranges, lemons and moldy strawberries. I could not believe how many there were. Butterflies have a very interesting way of camouflaging themselves when threatened as you can see below: Can you spot the butterfly? Trust me, it is there.Two seconds later it opened its beautiful wings and revealed itself to me: A Question Mark Butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis).