UnBEElievable

We are the parents of over 75,000 honey bees. I love our bees. To me they are like the pyramids of Giza, a wonder of the world. They work non-stop day and night for one purpose, to make honey, another miracle. Do you know that pure raw all natural honey will never go bad.... ever. Our honey bees pollinate the world and without them all life would cease to exist. We need bees more than bees need us!!

We have two hives. Yesterday, our second smaller hive swarmed. It was very unexpected since we thought the colony had more than enough room. A swarm happens when the bees get too crowded and the queen decides to take a large portion of the colony and look for a bigger ‘crib’ so to speak. As soon as I saw the masses of bees out of the hive, I knew.....A bee swarm is something well thought out by the bees. They prepare for days by filling their bellies with food to prepare for their journey. Because their bellies are so full, they can’t really sting you. Although it seems like mass hysteria, they know what they are doing. They usually swarm to a spot outside of the hive like on a branch of a tree layered around the queen to keep her safe. Once settled there, scout bees go out and look for a new home..possibly a hollow tree or something like that. The problem is, they won’t survive the winter most likely because there aren’t enough of them and won’t be protected.

So it is our job to figure out how to get them back in the hive, which we have made bigger by adding more frames. Last year when our girls swarmed, Mike was able to actually cut the whole branch off since it was close to the ground and shake them into the hive. This time, they are about 50 feet in the air. Our only hope is to try and lure them to a new ‘lure’ hive that Mike has placed on the ground below. To make it more ‘alluring’, he has sprayed the frames with sugar water and lemon grass oil, scents that they love.

The last time we checked, there seemed to be some activity in and out of the ‘lure’ hive but the swarm remained in the branch. This is gut wrenching really, watching your colony just buzz away knowing that there is nothing you can do to stop it. We have fingers and toes crossed but really, it is up to mother nature. Isn’t it always?