Saturday I was @..........

...........our backyard bee party.

Saturday was a big hit!!!  Duncan and I started early with a trip to Athens, GA to pick up the 2 new nucleus hives.  Two of our hives made it through the winter with no problem but one did not so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of bees in order to cultivate a lot of honey this summer.  This will be our fifth year keeping bees, low maintenance and very educational.

Here is the bee farm where we picked up our new hives.  The weather could not have been better, it felt like we were in the mountains with all of the surrounding forrest and crisp, cool air.

This is the property of Jennifer A. Berry, who is the Apicultural Research Coordinator and Lab Manager at the University of Georgia, and this is only a fraction of her hives.  You might not be able to tell from the picture but the hives were all painted pastel colors, so appropriate for Easter weekend and I am definitely going to steel that idea.

And here we have two new hives of angry bees, close the trunk and don't stop until you get home!

We were joined by Ozzie Sabina, one of Duncan's friend and fellow bee keepers, and a friend and co-worker of Duncan's who might be interested in this hobby.  Here they are inspecting the existing hives.

A close up of their findings.

Some of our guests observing.

Some of my dearest friends who just came for the wine.  Just kidding.

I am sure they are discussing colony collapse syndrome.

Brad and Emma Jayne.

Duncan post hive inspection.  Those outfits get warm!

The integration of hives did not go off without a hitch.  We had a swarm right out of the gate, I couldn't get a picture of the bees clumped in the trees because they were so high up.  Luckily, for our party, they decided to go back to their hives instead of finding a new home elsewhere. 

Once the new frames were integrated into our existing hives, and the Queen Bee was situated in her new home, the rest followed, literally making a "bee line" into the new hive.

The bees weren't the only entertainment, 

The Twins thought this was a party for them.

Jackson found one of the eggs hidden by one of the hens after being laid, so I can honestly say we had an easter egg hunt.  Clearly the other kids were envious, even big sis in the background.

Last but not least, 

a tired Shorty.  I am pretty sure she has never been this exhausted.

Thanks to our fabulous friends for making Bee Saturday the highlight of our Easter weekend.