First day in the beeyard for the SEMBA beginning beekeeping class, suited up and read to go.
Yes, I dropped the queen bee down among the ten thousand bees in the little box they were delivered in.
Yes, I placed the bottom board upside-down.
Yes, I forgot the extra 4'x4's to raise up the hive.
Yes, I forgot the nail I needed to release the queen, and the rubber band I needed to secure her in the frame. (Thanks for bailing me out, fellow new beekeepers!)
Yes, my Ziploc bag of sugar syrup leaked all over the boot of my RAV4, causing the rubber seal to come undone and inviting an ant invasion.
Yes, I had a colony last year and should know better.
No, I did not get stung. Neither did any others of the 30 students who were installing package bees in their hives that day.
Yes, the colony survived all that ineptitude.
Onward.
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