I think we should have gotten a puppy!

Thursday, May 17
And now for the further adventures of our bee yard!

Hippolyta decided to swarm again.  I now know that this is the result of a virgin queen just deciding to take off with her entourage instead of killing the other queens.  Hippolyta had actually started to swarm twice before this and then turned back and went into the hive again.  This happens when the swarm decides that the queen they are following isn't up to snuff.  Do not ask me how they decide that!

So Hippolyta finally swarmed for real...this is called an after swarm since, as you know she had already swarmed with the original queen and left me with queen cells.  She decided to go up into the little sugar maple right beside the beeyard.  There were 3 clusters in the tree and the two lower ones were within reach from a tall ladder.  We set it up and I took a shallow box up to the top.  The wonderful thing about having a husband who a: works in a shop on the property b: is handy with tools and c: is interested in my bees is that he can whip up a makeshift bottom and top for catching a swarm.

Bottom cluster and box at the ready

I shook the lower and higher clusters into the box and hoped that the other cluster would come into the box of their own accord.

Pulling the cluster to the box

Shaking the cluster into the box

Once I had most of the bees into the box I added the frames that I had left out for this operation.  And then the lid.

Adding the frames

Adding the lid

We then left the box on the ladder to sit until dark.  When it was finally dark and we went out to take the box down we realized that we had not considered how much heavier the box would be full of bees. I could not even dream of bringing it down the ladder.  As well, there was a cluster of bees on the side of the box.  Bill went up the ladder and "bench pressed" the box and came down the ladder with the box on his head...very carefully!  I held the flashlight until he got down to my level and  helped lift the box the rest of the way.  We then set it in its new home in the beeyard.  Did I mention that all of this excitement had to happen in just over an hour since I had to get back to work at 1 pm?  True story.  

The next day I scooped the cluster that was still there into the box.  I just took a stiff piece of paper and slid it underneath them.  They are so docile when they are swarming, it is like they are on drugs!

Cluster on side of box

So this what I know about my hives:  Hippolyta and Elizabeth I are sans queens but have queen cells and are still trying to make queens.  I will leave them for a couple of weeks and then go in to see if there is a fertilized queen laying eggs--that is if they stop the silly after swarms.  Swarm Catch #1 and #2 probably have virgin queens who are likely to be fertilized soon and then they will start laying.  Both hives are very busy with workers drawing out comb and collecting pollen and nectar.

And I am the proud (not sure) owner of FOUR hives!  

Four hives

I figured that I was having all these swarming issues since I am new beekeeper but this is not so!  I was at the market, buying honey (!) and had a conversation with the seller.  When I told her that I was also a beekeeper, the first thing she asked me was "have your bees swarmed?"  She has 17 hives and most of them swarmed.  She managed to capture two of the swarms but unfortunately, she had cut all the queen cells out of the  hives to try to avoid the swarming.  Now she has to buy 12 new queens to requeen her hives so she can get them going again.  

I am hoping that my approach will be more successful and that the next post will not be about swarming.  Wish us luck!

Catching the Swarm

Friday, May 11

My my. The bees have a sixth sense for being dramatic when I am very busy.  Yet again, I was at work when I received a text from Bill to say that Elizabeth was swarming again.  Really?  How in the world was this even possible?  Hadn't we already been through this?  This was becoming worse than raising teenagers!  Happily, I had planned on coming home early to check into what the bees were doing since the weather was beautiful--sunny, blue sky and about 21 degrees centigrade.  When I got home I headed right over to our neighbours cedar tree...my bees love that tree.  About 12' up I saw two balls of bees.  Bill, our neighbour and I decided that catching this swarm was totally do-able.  No bait hive here--I was going in!

Here is the story of my first swarm catch.

We set up the ladder at the cedar and got the lopper ready to chop off any branches in the way.  Don't worry, our neighbour was totally fine with any haircut the tree would get.

The balls of bees in the cedar

Going in for the catch!

Yours truly got into my suit and up the ladder I went feeling very powerful.  The bees were clumped altogether and buzzing.  Amazing to be nose to nose with them.  I showed Bill where to cut the branch in front of them and then got ready for him to cut their own branch off.

The ball of bees

My favourite part of this story is when I had the bees cut down and needed to come down the ladder.  I couldn't climb down with only one hand since I was fairly close to the "this is not a step" step!  I asked Bill to take the bees from me even though he did not have a veil on.  He looked astonished and then just took them.  I kept telling everyone that they are very docile when in a swarm but still...

Hero Bill with the swarm

I then took the swarm from him

Me with swarm

and  shook them into the box we had waiting.

Shaking the bees into the box

I did this with two more clumps and the swarm was ours again!  I put in the rest of the frames so the hive had 10 frames and put the lid on.

Brand new hive of bees

So this is my first capture.  I wrote my beekeeper mentor and told him that I had gone into both my hives and discovered that there were no queens, just queen cells and that I had captured a swarm from one.  He wrote back to tell me that I should do nothing and they would sort themselves out and then he wrote "You now have three hives"!  I could practically hear him chuckling.   Oh dear!  Not only was that not my plan, I have to think of another name for her!  (My youngest daughter has suggested Queen Latifa...ha ha)

We left the hive at the neighbours and then moved it to my beeyard late that night.  She is now very busy and I will have to add boxes and get a better lid and bottom board for her.  

I read in one of my bee books that the only way to learn about bees was to make lots of mistakes.  I am learning lots and lots.

Epic Bee Day

Thursday, May 5

Holy Bees, Batman!

It was a hot, muggy day.  The high was forecast to be 29 degrees centigrade but felt like 34 degrees.  A thunder storm was supposed to come that evening.  I had just finished an interview at work when a text from Bill arrived..."Your bees are swarming!"  This was a surprise since I thought I had done what I needed to do to avoid that.  An amazing video was attached to this text.  The sky was filled with flying bees.

If you think that all Bill does is watch the bees, let me explain that Bill is a metal sculptor and his shop is on our property. (sometimes I think I should just hand over my bee suit since he has much more opportunity to work with them than I do...sigh)

As soon as I could, I called Bill to find out what was going on.  He was very excited.  Hippolyta had landed in the cedar tree next door.  Happily, our neighbour loves the bees though that many bees has to be disconcerting to the most bee-friendly of people.  Take pictures, I said!

I immediately called the President of the Beekeepers Association and left a message with his wife.  He was in his own beeyard at the time.  When he called Bill and found out that the swarm were high up in a cedar he said that they were probably not retrievable and we should accept that they were leaving.  I came home as soon as I could and got to see the huge ball of bees in the cedar.

Bees in the our neighbours cedar tree

Close up of the ball of bees in cedar tree

I wasn't going to let them go without a fight so we decided to set up a bait hive to see if we could entice them back.  I bought some lemon grass and put a bunch of it on top, in front and inside the hive.  I know it was a long shot but why not?

Bait hive on stump facing cedar tree

I then sat in the garden armed with camera, binoculars, my phone and snacks.  I was ready but I didn't reckon with the heat.  It was so hot I retreated into the house.  Of course, soon after I left, I heard my neighbour yelling.  The bees were on the move.  The sky was black with bees flying over our house.  The roar they produced was awesome...like a plane right over my head.  It was so extraordinary.  I followed them as they flew towards the rail yard.  So fast!  They then headed into a small wooded area and disappeared.  It was all over in a couple of minutes and I had no camera.  It was epic.  It was spectacular.  It was humbling.

Hippolyta and Queen Elizabeth I are happily buzzing away now as if nothing had happened.  Now I must go in to see how they are doing. 

Nature is amazing.