I walked down to the mailbox yesterday afternoon and on the way back up the hill I hear buzzing. I looked up in the tree and there is a big ole swarm of bees. So I put the walk into overdrive and called son in law Mike. He and Crystal have bees on their farm also. They came over to capture the swarm and put them into a new hive.
Mike usually gets stung a few times while working with the bees but I don't think he did this time. One trip up the ladder results in a bin full of bees.
He think he captured the queen because of how the bees are on the outside of the box. He made another trip up the ladder to get more of the bees.. Unreal to me how many bees are there!
A few hours later Ernie comes home from work and I'm telling him of the great bee adventure. He goes to check on them and those darn bees are back in the tree. That means the queen wasn't captured and the drones are back protecting her. He's surprised the swarm is still in the tree.
So up the ladder he goes to get the bees again. He goes up twice but isn't convinced the queen is in the hive. He comes to the house to get his little saw and up the ladder he goes again to cut off the branch with the remaining bees. They are also delivered to the hive.
After another hour or so, he goes back down and the bees are still in the hive. That's a good thing. I'll check on them in a while to see if they are flying in and out. I will not open the lid. I'm not that brave!
Live on our farm is never dull. Thanks Mike and Crystal, Leland and Corbin for helping me out. Cross your fingers for us.....this beekeeping is challenging work sometimes.
3 comments:
I'd be running the other way too. No bees are in my future. I like my Honey in the little jar.
Brave lot you folks are............
I agree with Mary, I like my honey in a jar... Buy it local.... Just prefer it that way and they say that it helps with allergies...
While I don't live on a farm I do live surrounded by them.......
That is so interesting. In my next life, I think I will have bees :)
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