second wave

the second batch of bee cocoons i bought had been on the road for six days and, after my last experience, i knew there would be bees hatched and that some would have escaped the mesh bag they come in...so i opened it outside this time...and half a dozen escapees flew out...the bag was alive as well...

so i took it out back to what you could call "the hatchery" and opened it...

and rather a largish number of bees exited to explore their new home and find what they need to move along with the task at hand...there were girls...

and boys...

buzzing around me for a few minutes...which was pleasant...they are very gentle bees...

after most of them had flitted off i put the bag with the unhatched cocoons in the hatchery...

affixed the critter net...

and applied the roof to keep them dry if it should actually rain this week as the forecast predicts...we'll see...so...a bit more than four hundred leaf cutters ( with the ones i had from last season that overwintered in my daughter and son-in-law's garage ) let loose out back this year...the gardener is pleased.