Now I have bees inside of my house.

The hive came together pretty easily, I think I've made a few mistakes that I'll have to work out as time passes. I think the bees will propolize the screen I used and I don't have an easy way to clean it. I also have fears that I won't be able to open the hive after it's had bees in it for a while! I added some petroleum jelly to the seams on one pane of glass so it would open easier after the bees attempt to glue to together. I wish I hadn't because it looks goopy but if it allows me to access the frames when I need to then it is probably worth it. The unexpected piece I came up with was how to ensure the tube connecting the bees to the outdoors stays in place. I ended up adding a screw which goes through one side of the tube to hold it in place.

The challenge I wasn't expecting was making all of this work in the house! I didn't plan on having the bees in the basement but that's where they ended up which meant that they have a ways to go to get outside, and a significant change in elevation. That's a problem for the bees, the farther they are from the outdoors the harder it will be to keep the hive going strong. A long entrance means that the bees leaving and coming home have a long way to crawl. It also makes it hard for a bee to tell which hole in their hive goes outside and which is just a vent for air.

The vertical change is also a problem, the insides of the tube are slick and the bees need to carry their garbage out through the tube. Since their garbage includes dead bees it can be quite difficult for a bee to carry another bee up a smooth vertical surface.

Here on the right is a picture of the hive in "dark mode". The bees prefer to be in the dark, it's what they're used to. When the hive isn't being observed for a while (or when it is being transported) I plan to put these solid panels in place. I also might be moving the hive from the top of a bookcase to the top of a little short table as needed, having it up high might make it easier for the bees to make their way outside and it will probably make it easier for little human hands to stay out of trouble.

And here to the left is a picture of the hive in "observation mode". It really came together nicely and it is very impressive with bees buzzing about inches from your fingers. To end with I've got a picture (taking pictures of small things behind glass is hard!) of the queen bee and some of her attendants in their new home.
I should probably add that queens don't normally have a spot of bright color on their backs, beekeepers add that so the queens are easier to find. I don't normally mark my queens but since this is a Carolinian queen she would be very hard to find for someone who isn't used to finding queens. I hope to show this hive to quite a few someones like that!