Our hive has hatched a lot of new bees lately! This is cool for a few reasons.
The first is that it means that they’re thriving. If they have enough resources to lay eggs, then they’re not starving for food.
The second is that we get to see a lot more activity. Here’s some slow-motion video I managed to catch a little bit ago:
One of the things new bees do is orientation flights. They’ll go outside for their first time and start flying in circles and figure-eights, small at first, and expanding outwards. They do this in order to learn how to get home again until eventually they can find their way home from anywhere in the area.
However, sometimes these new bees get tired on their first flight and end up in the grass. So, one of the new entertainments for Lukas and Brynnley is to go around the yard and pick up the tired bees and bring them back to the hive.
One of them did manage to get stung this day, I think. I’m writing this a few months after the fact, but still, it hasn’t deterred them.