Bee Swarm

Isn't this just a pipicturesque view?

But lurking inside was a story of treason.

A good Queen verses an evil Queen. A story of overthrowing the thrown and taking over half the kingdom with it.

OK, maybe not exactly.... but this is how I explained it to my 4 and 6 year old.... 

Within 2 days time my sweet photo worthy hive went into total chaos.

Hallie came in from outside to say that she saw some brown bees by the slide..... 

Hmmm..... well we do live in the country and I brushed it off as a horse fly or maybe a bee or just...nothing really.

A little later she mentioned it one more time and I thought is was odd, she than said it scared her. Hmmm taking note....OK you were scared. Now in my defense the kid is scared of a tiny ity bity spider, so I didn't take that into account. 

Well with a busy morning with family in town and errands I pushed it aside and said I would go look a little later. We all finished our morning routine and headed out the door. But something told me to go check the slide before I left. I ran out back to the slide to see for myself the "brown bees."

This is what I see.

Holy Moly!!!! Now that is a lot of "brown bees."

My hive had swarmed.

 Here is a great article on the reasons for a swarm and information if you encounter a Bee Swarm

Since you should contact a local Beekeeper to come and handle your swarm, I called the closest one I know which happens to be my dear dad.

Oh, the things you will do for your children....adult or child. Thanks Dad! (:

Here my dad shows how large the bee swarm is compared to his hand.

I'm just thankful the two most important men in my life...(my husband and my dad)...helped to rescue my bees.

You than suit up and with a large bee brush start sweeping the bees, while a handsome fellow holds the box close to catch them. 

The guys figured there was about five pounds worth of bee weight. Yikes!

A common misconception is that bees are dangerous when they swarm, however they are actually very docile and are more concerned with where their queen is and where they can make a new hive.

Now if you provoke them like a sugar highed 6 year old on a birthday pinata, then they will most likely sting you. We were not "sugar highed" or "six" and so it went very smoothly.

During the re-capture not one bee landed on my dad or husband making this one of the easiest times to handle bees.

  

Fascinating isn't it!

My cousin who is allergic to bees is itching just about now. Hi Ang!

These photos are way over exposed but I wanted you to see them all back in the box.

Waiting for the bees to settle down into the box. The queen releases a pheromone and the workers and drones will follow that into the Super. 

You can see the bees flying all over but are not landing on the white bee suit at all. I was taking these photos and wasn't wearing a suit and I didn't feel nervous at all.

Now, I am a little nervous about the old hive excepting the swarm and that has all kinds of little hurdles to cross. I'm praying that the re-introduction to the old hive goes well and I will post on that soon.

 To close I'm extremely thankful they swarmed close to the house and not in a neighbors barn, or somewhere where we wouldn't have known where to catch them.

 Oh, that would have been a whole different post. One of tears and sobs and a lot of boohooing that I lost my hive, again!

I'm also very thankful that I had a little girl tell me about the "brown bees," and that I headed the Lords guiding voice that said, "listen to your 6 year old."

She was one of my three hero's that day!

Blessings,