busy busy bees

The early spring was chilly enough that she hadn't wanted to open the bee hives to check on the bees, not wanting to let their accumulated heat out and cause issues for their survival. It was a sunny day today though, warm for the season so far, so she set out in the late morning to do hive maintenance while she had a chance. The first thing she did as she approached the hives was check the entrances for activity - on a nice warm day like this, she'd expect the bees to start making flights. A hive without activity or with very little was probably dead or dying. Not all hives survived the winter, after all. She breathed a sigh of relieve as she saw signs of activity at all the hives she'd relocated here, bees buzzing off to parts unknown or industriously doing their own spring cleaning. There were dead bees beneath the hives, but no more than a normal amount, and the living bees were already clearing them away. Setting the already-smoking smoker down, she worked the mechanism with her paw to puff smoke into the hive to calm the bees, while Ayer set to work prying the lid off the box.