Well, They're In

Last night, my husband finished the new hive stand and we set it up around dusk so we could be out there without gear and the bees would be mostly turning in for the night. Also it's been raining a lot lately so my goal all week had been to get the bees in the nuc colony into my new hive today, the first day it was going to be reliably sunny. We leveled the hive and got the nuc turned in the correct direction so they could adapt to the direction of the hive - I had anticipated that the window on the hive was on the same wall relative to the entrance as my original hive and so turned the nuc colony around. But when I set it up I was surprised to realize the window was on the opposite side! That way I could have the entrances both facing south and both windows would be accessible to me when I stood between the hives. That's actually a better scenario, since the entrances should face south whenever possible.

Today I was able to fully transfer the combs into the new hive. The legs are longer on this stand so it's higher, which is better for me. I don't have a photo yet; I can't take photos with my bee gloves on and the bees were really agitated so I'm going to wait a few days and then take pictures. They did seem calmer as soon as I started moving away but it's going to take a while for all the bees to figure out how to get into their new home.

Good news, though, in that I found larva and capped worker brood cells, continued evidence of a healthy queen Phoebee. I still haven't actually seen her, but I might when they calm down and I can really start to see what is going on.