restock the hives -details

Prepping. You can see dead bees at top left on floor of the old hive.
Frames visible with winter honey still there.
Here comes the queen. Out first.
Try that again, maybe use gloves this time...
Leave the workers to wiggle down into the frames and get settled.
Mason jar is full of sugar water to keep bees close.
Run inside...
The frames hold the honeycomb or brood comb within the hive (each level of the hive is a "super"). The frames are a key to the modern hive since they can be removed to inspect the bees for disease or to extract honey.
Further reading on the construction. Shallow supers, deep supers, movable hives, etc...

This process of installing new bees does not require the use of a smoker, that is for slowing down/pacifying bees during any inspection/work on the hive/stealing honey...

restock the hives

Our bees died last winter, so last weekend Pops dug out the ICI suit and restocked the hives, shots below. (First get the queen and any guards into the new hive then shake the workers out.) The smaller hive is infront of an outbuilding that we have our eye on to redo as a no-electricity-guesthouse (well, guestroom maybe...) Woodstove, white plaster walls inside, a big old flag... you can imagine. Anyway, 2 hives make more honey than you can possibly use... regift!

lead beehive

Title says it all really. Pops has a bunch of lead farm animals and soldiers from his childhood, finally unboxing them (cue unboxing video...). Prob not PC to let kids play with cast lead now... that were painted with lead paint no doubt... chipping all over the place. They feel so heavy and quality though.

Pops does infact have 2 actual beehives, and yes we have had a few colony collapses (and once the queen just zoomed off then they swarmed/moved.) Great older bit below from Eddie Izzard, 'Covered in Bees'.