Large Scale Central

Bee swarm!

Yesterday afternoon our neighbor called while I was at Chili’s to tell us there was a big swarm of bees in our front yard. When I got home, there it was, as big as a loaf of bread, hanging on the shrub just a few feet from the driveway and sidewalk. I called around and found a guy in our area who does live removal, which is what I wanted. We need more bees – just not in my yard!

It was pretty interesting to watch him work. He put a net over his head and fired up the smoker. Then he hit 'em with a little smoke to pacify them, and just shook them off into a cardboard box. He waited a bit for some of the bees in the air to get into the box, then sealed it up. He cut a little “door” in the bottom at one end, and waited for some of the stragglers to join the group. Then he covered the hole with window screen. The bees will be given to a beekeeper, to pollenate crops and make honey.

Looks like your dinosaurs were all a buzz over the commotion!

Yeah, that’s right where we have a bunch of plastic dinos for the neighborhood kids to play with, so definitely didn’t want any kids getting stung. That’s how we found out about it… one of the toddlers from the daycare across the street came over (with her mom) to play with the dinosaurs.

Are you sure that he got the queen, or doesn’t it matter?

Yeah, he got the queen. If he hadn’t, the other bees wouldn’t stayed in the box.

We’ve got about a dozen stragglers that missed the ride, still hanging around out there wondering where everyone went.

Hope they are gone by Monday, when the other horde will descend!

Greg

I’m looking forward to Monday’s “swarm”. :slight_smile:

Bees are dang cool. We are hoping to start a couple of hives at our house. And since there is a bee epidemic I am glad you went live capture. We need as many healthy honey and bumble bee populations as we can get. When I first read this I was afraid I was going to find a post on africanized bees which is bad bad. Glad it went well. Someone owes you a gallon of honey.

If you are interested in bees this might interest you. I knew Br. Adam and many who were involved with the bees at Buckfast and Dartmoor. The honey they produce sells very quickly.

It is a part of the Abbey complex that few visitors got see but in recent times courses have been introduced into this fascinating and essential part of nature.

http://www.buckfast.org.uk/bee-keeping_150.html

Yeah, I like bees, they’re fascinating little critters.

Please know that bees only do their daily duty when flying!!

So, do not stand near the hive when they fly overhead.

Here in the cold weather many bees die as they can not fly on cold winter days. It is a crappy sort of death.

Had one in one of the fruit trees a few days back, and a second one in an old cabinet out in the back 10 acres. They both hung and buzzed around for about two to three days and then one morning both were gone. I would love to have a bee hive but regulations where I live prevent keeping ‘noxious insects’. Not sure that bees really fall into that category in my opinion.

With bees I would do the same, but we got a Yellow Jacket nest in our front yard, to which I unleashed the dogs of full on chemical warfare. Took a while but I won, could have done it quicker but I wasn’t allowed to build a big bonfire over the nest.

These bees probably would have moved on in a day or two, looking for a permanent home. But I was worried that they’d set up housekeeping inside one of my tunnels or some other inconvenient location. Better to move them while they were easy to reach.

Several years ago there was a bee hive in the walls of our church. Someone decided to “just seal them in” and covered the hole they were coming out of. So they found another way out of the wall, into the interior of the church. The next Sunday morning the place was full of thousands of dead bees.

I have about 1/2 acre of back yard lawn. And it’s covered in dandelions. My neighbors have companies spray their lawns for broadleaf “weeds”.

I don’t because it is a Bee Sanctuary. I told them so and they respect that.

When they do that, they’re looking for a new place to make a hive. They’ll settle in a spot while the scouts are out, then move on. Your beekeeper just took them to one all ready for them. They’re actually quite docile in that state and don’t much sting people or critters, but they can be frightening. “There’s a buzzillion bees!”

This past week my cherry tree was in full bloom. When I stood under it, it sounded like a B 17 in full throated take off mode, from all the bees gathering pollen. Glorious.

My garden got a lot less bee friendly when my big old rose bush finally gave up the ghost last summer. Lots of little conifers but not much “through the summer” pollen plants. Yes, I’ve got heather, clematis and apple, plum and magnolia trees (1 of each not a whole orchard) that bloom but it’s all early season stuff really. I’ve got a big unkempt climbing rose that produces a mass of small flowers for part of the summer. I think I’ll pop down to the garden centre today and get a few lavender plants to fill some sunny spots. Bees love lavender and it seems to last till late summer. Max

P.S. On second thoughts perhaps my garden isn’t so bee unfriendly. Still going to get that lavender though.

P.P.S. Did you know that the various species of bumble bee specialise in the plants they pollinate. Get a few “red tails” in my garden. Wonder what they like here.

If you have bees resident -hives or otherwise - always make sure, as any apiarist will tell you, to tell them all the family news and that of course will include railroading news. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

I had a small swarm on my leaking humming bird feeder!!!

I went to get my neighbor and …yes they were his!!

He removed them and brought them a cross the street to his hives…

He said they will look for the easy way… sugar water…

I like his bees… I give him eggs he gives me honey!! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)