Opened up the hives to release the queens. They were very calm. Garrett took pictures.

Lots of activity around the entrances – we have had a few partially sunny days. The queens look healthy. We named the NE colony ‘FlashMob’.
Garrett had said he liked the ‘FlashMob’ colony better than the other one when they were still in the cages. He said ‘They look more organized’. I noticed they seemed a bit peppier than the other colony at first. The SW colony is named ‘The Others’. When I lifted their queen cage out to remove the cork and release her, there was a chain of bees clinging to the cage and each other about 4″ long. Reminded me of those plastic toy monkeys. (‘Barrel of Monkeys!’)

Lighting the smoker! The book said to put in paper, then put in twigs for kindling, tend the little fire for 10 minutes to get it going! Say what??? Bob Combs, the instructor for the class I took at Meadowbrook said to just get a propane torch. I am now the proud owner of a propane torch. Garrett likes it.