I am a beekeeper again!

On Saturday May 4, 2019, I got a nuc from Mary Bouma in Hopkins, MI. It was a beautiful day, almost 70 degrees and sunny. The first such day since anyone could remember, so we all took advantage. Mary was so excited to get my nuc ready she called me from out at the hives, which resulted in a painful sting to her lip! I went out and picked it up and then went right to where my hives are set up and installed it. It was over a week before I could get back to check it. I went back on the next day that was similar weather, Tuesday the 14th of May. Since I have to drive 23 miles each way, if I forget something I am just out of luck. This time I forgot my bee gloves. Now I know a lot of people work bees without gloves, but I have never been one of those people. I firmly believe the bees are calm when I am calm, and without my gloves, I am not sure I could be calm, so I just observed from the outside. What I saw was very encouraging. As you can see in this picture, I didn't install the nuc in the very front, so the bees were using the front side entrances more than the front entrance, I am assuming because the broodnest was a little further back. I saw lots of pollen from both dandelions and yellow mustard going in. There was a lot of activity. I took a couple of pictures, stood and watched for a while, then went home and put my gloves in my truck so they will be there the next time I go!