Busy Bee Week

I have had a busy, busy week. I thought I'd show you some of what I have been doing. Can you see that clump in this tree, about a foot above that ladder. Do you know what it is?


Now do you?

Yup, it's a swarm. Hives sometimes get too full and the old queen leaves with half the hive. The new queen, that the bees amazingly make, stay in the hive and replace the old queen. This is a great way to start a new hive, IF you can capture the swarm. I've captured two this week.

That's me and hubby assessing the situation. He helps out with the beekeeping business when I need him to. (the pink thing is a neighbor's finger. She is only 10 or 12 and she took all the pics. She wants to be a columnist. I told her to e-mail me this story and I'd post it, but I haven't heard from her yet and I wanted to let y'all know I'm still here. If she e-mails me, I'll post her version.)

I've got a "bee brush" which has very light bristles. I brush as many bees into this box that I can. If you get the queen, the bees will start following her in the box.

Now that's a lotta bees.

I took out a couple of frames so I could shake them down to the bottom of the hive. I caught this swarm on Tuesday. Thursday I checked on them and so far so good. As my husband and I just sat down on Thursday to visit with each other he said, "it looks like one of your hives is getting ready to swarm." Sure enough, another hive swarmed. Here we go

again.....

It's a busy time of year for beekeepers and gardeners here in Indiana.

Have a good weekend.

Cindy