SWARM!!!!

  

As Monta and I were eating a rather late leisurely breakfast, we heard our son, Eli, colorfully exclaim that thousands of  honey bees were flying about our backyard beyond Beelandia. The two of us, with our daughter, Eme, ran out to join Eli, and discovered that what Eli was observing was  a swarm of bees leaving one of our hives and taking a rest stop in a thornless honey locust tree in a neighbor's yard. 

Eme, Monta and I took immediate action. Eme and I put together a bait hive in an unused deep and the three of us ran off to the neighbor's house to ask for permission to leave the bait hive there. The neighbor was calm and cool about the whole situation. She had heard about the decline in the bee population and was only too happy to allow us to catch the swarm. (It was just too high in the tree to cut down.) 

Monta and Eme kept watch on the swarm while I checked Beelandia. The swarm seemed to have issued from Plan Bee..., the top bar hive filled with carniolans. When I got to Beelandia, this hive was still very active with two afterswarms here and there on the plants. By the time I assessed the situation with the hives, however, the initial swarm flew off and not into the bait box we left. Monta ran about the neighborhood  trying to discover where the swarm might've gone to but could not find it.

We were philosophical about the loss of the swarm, figuring we gave something back to "nature". I did place one of the afterswarms in a double nuc box, along with some brood, drawn comb, and honey from the other carniolan colony. We will see what happens with this nuc.

Beelandia's Borders Secured

With the snow and rain ending, Monta, Eli (our youngest), and I were able to finish 90% of the fence around our apiary-garden (affectionately named "Beelandia"). The photo above, facing southward, gives you a nice view of the apiary-garden's geography. Almost in the middle of the photo, you can see the finished "Metpropolis", our Kenyan top bar hive that Monta built using the plans provided by Phil Chandler. To the right and slightly behind it, there are some cinder blocks which will serve as the substructure for a Langstroth hive which we have named "Bee Glad... For the Hum Has No Ending." A "mad mixture" of "bee plants" will be located in the area in the foreground.



The second photo shows the fence from the street, facing northeast. The fence is high enough that the bees should not bother anyone walking passed the house, while hiding the hives from curious eyes.

In the next week, I will be tilling the soil a bit (still too early to plant much) and then we will all put the finishing touches on the "border" fence. It still looks like a week or two before I can install the bees. I hope to remain patient.

For further information about the fence, go and read Monta's blog.