RicelandMeadows

Swarm on the chicken fence

June 10, 2011

 

     What wonderful words, “Honey, I’m home!”  It’s the greatest place in the world to be, at least in my opinion. My farm is my heaven on Earth, all my favorite things are here. Things like, comfort, peace, hugs and even my favorite coffee cup. I am the ruler of this kingdom…. I can do anything I want … as long as it’s okay with Connie 😮

 

     I captured the nice swarm of bees in the photo yesterday. They were clinging to the fence. My hive was showing signs it was about to swarm the day before, so I got an empty hive ready, just in case. I was right and just before noon, half of the bees left the hive along with the old queen. That is the way nature does it, to make room for the next generations, when the hive gets over crowded.

 

     I tried a new trick and it worked very well. I placed the hive body near the bee swarm. I misted the clinging bees with sugar-water. I also sprayed the inside of the new hive with the sugar-water. I left them on the fence while I went and put my bee suit on. Sugar water is pure cane sugar dissolved in water heated on the stove. The sugar stays dissolved once it cools. This slightly sticky mixture calms the bees. They eat it too.

 

     I returned to the swarm with my suit on and swept 85% of the swarm into a bucket made just for this purpose. The reason I only got 85% was because bees don’t sweep off a fence too well. The main cluster , containing the queen, was among the 85%.

 

     I put a couple of pieces of honeycomb, dripping with honey in the hive body. I dumped the bucket full of bees into the hive and closed the lid. It didn’t take long and the ones I missed were flying right off the fence and into the hive. Like here, the queen set up housekeeping, brought order to the beehive and everything was fine by evening. The bees were all set up in their new home. My new trick was spraying the inside of the hive body with the sugar-water. It probably made bees and hive smell and taste the same, giving them something familiar at a time of chaos. Whatever, it worked and worked very well.

 

     I’m not the world’s greatest beekeeper. I mostly just let them bee :o. It’s more they keep me, than I keep them. I provide a great place to live, plenty of food and the foundation to build upon. They make all the honey they need and I get the rest. Usually about 40 pints, per hive, per season. A very nice reward for not much effort. We also get the benefit of pollination for our garden and crops. It is a great partnership… just like home!

 

     I am so glad to have caught the wayward bees. They, like many ,were in search of a house in which to live. I believe in a very short time, that place will be called a home. They will raise their children there, live and die there, not to mention all the sweet stuff that happens there….. No wonder it feels so good to say … “Honey, I’m Home!”