we just got back from capturing our very first hive. we had listed ourselves online at beesource.com awhile ago (thanks again for the link gina!). the guy had found a swarm early evening last night and went online to figure out what to do with them. he didn't want to kill them because he had heard of the shortages of bees. so, in doing a search, he stumbled on the beesource website and found us and called.
so, at the crack of dawn, we hit the snooze on the alarm 3 times and finally rolled out of bed around 6:30am. after having a leisurely cup of coffee (greg) and tea (me) we hopped in the truck and headed over there (about a 15 minute drive).
the swarm was tiny. it was about 15' or so up in a pine tree that was very scrawny which made it easy to get to although it was on sloped ground so maneuvering the ladder was a bit tricky. greg was fully clothed in his keeper's outfit, i was in a pale blue dress hovering off to the side handing him things as needed.
it was right next to the house so the wife opened a window and sat and talked to me as we watched. the bees were fairly mild. it was cool so the bees were sluggish. greg swept them into a bucket then poured them into the hive box. after sundown, we'll go back and pick up the box and bring it home.
let the beekeeping adventures begin!
(i regret to state that i forgot to bring my camera to record our efforts)
wow congratulations. i am excited for you guys. hey could you ask the owner of cauldron ridge farm to invite me to their protected site? i see alot of traffic from there to my site and wonder what they are about.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a real adventure. I enjoy reading about this beekeeping thing... I really don't know anything about it. There are tons of bees around here, but I have no idea where they live.
ReplyDeleteRon
Oh, how cool! I am glad that link "paid off"! I still need to add my name (there are a lot of people from this area on it already). I am still waiting for my purchased bees. I am beginning to think something is not right as they should have been here two weeks ago and the source is not returning my emails. :-(
ReplyDeleteOh, and I sent an invite to the Omelays!
Keeping bees is one of the coolest things ever. When my husband wanted to get into it 5 years ago, I thought he was nuts. Looking back, I'm so glad we did it! Enjoy!
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