Dear Family and friends;
Today our confidence as beekeepers took a big step forward. We actually saved a swarm of bees and shook it into a new hive and now they have a new home.
We had just come home from work when our friend K called. We sold them one of our hives last fall and we have all been learning about bees together. Last Saturday we all went to the bee supply store and bought hives and equipment and a nice book for beginning beekeepers. I helped them divide their hive because we saw two new queen cells developing. That usually means they are getting ready to swarm and we wanted to prevent that. Last year our own bees swarmed on a nice hot day. They formed a big cluster of bees around a tree branch and then took off after a couple of days. We had no clue what to do. Since then we have read and heard some ideas. We were not eager to try them out.
Ray got a saw and a branch pruner, I put an extra hive box in the back of the truck, took my outfit and the smoker and off we went. Sure enough, in a pine tree there was a black cloud of bees tightly packed together, buzzing happily. K had put a wheel barrow under the branch and had a ladder ready. She bravely held onto the branch while Ray climbed up to cut it off. I was in my suit with the smoker going, ready for I don’t know what, but they had no protection at all. We had heard that bees load up with honey before they swarm and are not in a fighting mood. Luckily that proved true.
Ray cut off the branch and the bees just hung on for dear life. I grabbed it and shook the bees off into an open hive box. They dropped in and then we closed the lid and watched what would happen. Quite a few bees were trying to get back into their tree and others were flying around looking very disoriented. Their big adventure had been called off. Instead of becoming wild and free, it seemed they were being coaxed back into a comfortable box, protected from the elements, but back to working for the humans.
We left and asked for K and husband M to call us with an update. A few minutes ago we heard that every bee had left the tree and the ground and the branch and had crawled into their new home. What an amazing experience!
Actually, I really needed the boost in confidence as I accidentally let one of our three hives starve to death this spring. It was completely my fault and it was very sad. The winter was so mild and it seemed like an early spring so the silly bees went into baby production mode. Then it got cold, there were no flowers, Fern didn’t feel like going out in the wind and rain to put sugar paste in the hives, the opening to the hive got jammed with dead bees so none of them could go in or out, they used up all their supplies, and a bitterly cold freezing night finished them off. So preventable. No wonder they think they might be better off leaving home and looking after themselves!
We are trying new things this year. Some friends have a little orchard about 26 miles from here and wanted to borrow our bees for a month. I went back and forth 4 times checking on them and spraying them for parasites, etc. and brought them home last weekend. Hopefully they did a good job pollinating the fruit trees and we get a good supply of lovely honey too. I divided that hive and then took the new one to another farmer friend. I think a lot of people are getting interested in beekeeping from our experience, though it’s sure a lot more complicated and time-consuming than we thought. In about a month we should get rewarded for all our work.
So there is the latest update from Latah. Love to all.
Fern and Ray.
Today our confidence as beekeepers took a big step forward. We actually saved a swarm of bees and shook it into a new hive and now they have a new home.
We had just come home from work when our friend K called. We sold them one of our hives last fall and we have all been learning about bees together. Last Saturday we all went to the bee supply store and bought hives and equipment and a nice book for beginning beekeepers. I helped them divide their hive because we saw two new queen cells developing. That usually means they are getting ready to swarm and we wanted to prevent that. Last year our own bees swarmed on a nice hot day. They formed a big cluster of bees around a tree branch and then took off after a couple of days. We had no clue what to do. Since then we have read and heard some ideas. We were not eager to try them out.
Ray got a saw and a branch pruner, I put an extra hive box in the back of the truck, took my outfit and the smoker and off we went. Sure enough, in a pine tree there was a black cloud of bees tightly packed together, buzzing happily. K had put a wheel barrow under the branch and had a ladder ready. She bravely held onto the branch while Ray climbed up to cut it off. I was in my suit with the smoker going, ready for I don’t know what, but they had no protection at all. We had heard that bees load up with honey before they swarm and are not in a fighting mood. Luckily that proved true.
Ray cut off the branch and the bees just hung on for dear life. I grabbed it and shook the bees off into an open hive box. They dropped in and then we closed the lid and watched what would happen. Quite a few bees were trying to get back into their tree and others were flying around looking very disoriented. Their big adventure had been called off. Instead of becoming wild and free, it seemed they were being coaxed back into a comfortable box, protected from the elements, but back to working for the humans.
We left and asked for K and husband M to call us with an update. A few minutes ago we heard that every bee had left the tree and the ground and the branch and had crawled into their new home. What an amazing experience!
Actually, I really needed the boost in confidence as I accidentally let one of our three hives starve to death this spring. It was completely my fault and it was very sad. The winter was so mild and it seemed like an early spring so the silly bees went into baby production mode. Then it got cold, there were no flowers, Fern didn’t feel like going out in the wind and rain to put sugar paste in the hives, the opening to the hive got jammed with dead bees so none of them could go in or out, they used up all their supplies, and a bitterly cold freezing night finished them off. So preventable. No wonder they think they might be better off leaving home and looking after themselves!
We are trying new things this year. Some friends have a little orchard about 26 miles from here and wanted to borrow our bees for a month. I went back and forth 4 times checking on them and spraying them for parasites, etc. and brought them home last weekend. Hopefully they did a good job pollinating the fruit trees and we get a good supply of lovely honey too. I divided that hive and then took the new one to another farmer friend. I think a lot of people are getting interested in beekeeping from our experience, though it’s sure a lot more complicated and time-consuming than we thought. In about a month we should get rewarded for all our work.
So there is the latest update from Latah. Love to all.
Fern and Ray.
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