Proud parents...

of about 3,000 honey bees and a queen.

Trevor and I have been taking a bee keeping class for a little over a month now.  After some preparation, including purchasing equipment and assembling that equipment, we were ready for the arrival of the buzzing critters.

A nice 59 degrees out on Sunday with only a soft breeze was the perfect welcoming weather.  First things first, Trevor removed the queen from the box and placed her in the hive.  Now, the really fun part.  I got to shake the bees out of their shipping box into the hive.  Check out the video!  We may or may not get honey this year, but unless something goes really wrong, we could get around 3-5 gallons of honey next year.

Best part of bee keeping so far?  The cool outfits!  Our instructor actually doesn't wear any protection.  Trevor and I have both handled the bees without gloves but do prefer to wear our head nets.

The girls...

are not too smart> hanging out near the chopping block and all.  But then again, they are our egg laying hens, not meat chickens.

Let me introduce you to Whitey, Blacky, and Browny.  Can you guess who is who?  Blacky has been in the family for two years, while Whitey and Browny are just turning one.  Blacky is an Australorp and lays BIG brown eggs, while the other two are Americanas and lay delicate green eggs- about one egg each a day.

We consider the girls part of the family.  We give them food, shelter, water, LOVE, and they give us eggs.  I've been part of this chicken family for about 9 months now and love it.  Collecting eggs never gets old.  Each time I go into the coop it's exciting to see how many precious eggs I'll find.

In addition to eggs I also get the pleasure of watching the girls wander around the yard, pecking and scratching for food.  Right now we're preparing to expand our egg laying family.  6 more egg laying chicks (3 different breeds) have been ordered to arrive in a couple of weeks.  Thinking we might get a little more creative with names this go around; time will tell.