I have written A LOT of potential blog posts to kick off Urbanfarmingmom, but none of them screamed “FIRST BLOG!” Until last Thursday happened. My first swarm. What is more special than your first swarm? Not much.
It was warm and sunny so Thomas was playing outside while I was just sitting down to work. It was beautiful out so the windows were open a bit and the back door was wide open. All of a sudden I here the pitter patter of little feet. “Uhhhh there is something going on with the bees! Let’s go check it out!” I hear from Thomas. While on our way out back I ask him what the matter is. “They flying!!!!” Cue inner eye roll… “Well sweetie bees fly, it’s in their job description”. Thomas “No you have to SEE THIS!” “OK lets go check it out” I say. I go outside to my neighbors standing at the fence, with a slight look of panic on their faces. I look to the direction of the bees and think “Whelp… that isn’t what they should be doing!” Out loud I said “Ugh!!! I am never going to get work done at this rate stupid bees!” as I shook my fist at them. I assured the neighbors that they weren’t going “Killer bee” on us and that it might be a virgin flight or a swarm. Honestly either one would have been awesome. See I only have two hives. As much as I would love a dozen of them I don’t have the room or the time to have a bunch of them. The problem is that last fall one hive absconded (left, moved out, didn’t leave a forwarding address). Not only didn’t I catch it, the weather was so crazy when they did leave I couldn’t even go into the hive to confirm in case I was wrong, although I guessed that they had left. So really the swarm was a good thing. I could once again have two hives. More honey for the family and happy plants. AWESOME.
Problem? I had never dealt with a swarm. I am a pretty new beek(a term for bee keeper. All the cool kids use it.). Barely a year under my belt, so now is when things start to get interesting. I have read the books and watched the You Tube videos and am part of a bee keeping group on Facebook but dealing with most things firsthand will be a first for me.
First, I kicked myself that my phone was not charged so I couldn’t take a picture of them swarming. Then I ran inside and plugged it (my phone) in. I ran to my computer to ask advice from my bee group… that I didn’t stay to read. Next I needed to make the sugar water. Being the prepared soul that I am I realized that we ran out of sugar when making muffins. Awesome neighbors to the rescue. AND that my last spray bottle that had stuff in it that wouldn’t kill my bees broke. Neighbors to the rescue again. I also borrowed their branch clippers. Not sure why, I have my own. I was in a self-induced panic by this time. You will always hear that one story of a beek trying to catch their swarm and the swarm takes off before you are ready. I was not going to be that beekeeper, so let’s chalk the panic up to that. I started making the sugar water spray on the stove and went to grab the only white sheet I had, from my bed, and laid it under the tree. By the time I stopped tripping over the stupid sheet and got it laid out the sugar water was done, except it was boiling hot. -Nice Christy. Let’s kill the bees with molten hot sugary sweetness. There are worse ways to die I am sure- Since ice cubes are a favored treat in the house for some reason, we of course were out. I grabbed a bag of frozen veggies and stuck it in the bowl of sugar syrup. Walked my toddler next door so he wouldn’t try to be in the tree with me or see me if I fell and became impaled on the fence of my chicken/bee yard (did I mention the awful decision my bees made when choosing where to land their swarm? Worst. Spot. Ever.) While there he was happily stuffed with Popsicles and ice cream and orange slices by Mrs Jilly, who is his favorite gall EVER so it worked out.
After getting a kiss and a high five from my baby and letting my neighbor know “Hey, I’m going to put this spare bee suit here in case I die. I’m sure it will be fine, just in case though” while laying it out on the railing of my deck, it was time to get to work! All suited up I started climbing… and climbing and climbing. I was reminded why yoga belongs in my life. Haven’t really practiced since I stopped being able to see my toes while pregnant with my youngest BUT it needs to make a comeback in a BIG way. Phone now half way charged, I took a moment to snap some pictures. Pictures for prosperity acquired I got to work. Sprayed bees the best I could- It was so large there was no way I would be able to get all of them- then cut the branch. Not only was this branch at the top of the tree, it was also one of the tallest branches. Way taller than me. Now what?! I am trying to make my way down a bit with the branch that is longer than I am tall full with the roar of thousands of bees in my ears and those little buggers start making a bridge to another branch! Jerks. I get to the point where I could drop the branch and the bees on to the sheet and make my way down. I tried looking for the queen but I couldn’t see her, so I just shook everyone off the best I can into my empty hive. I DID IT! Ooorrrr maybe not. Remember the bee bridge? Some of them stayed behind and all the ones that had taken flight had also landed back to join them. I hadn’t found the queen before. What if she is on the new branch? Back up the tree. The swarm on the new branch is still huge. While I am there spraying away and trying to cut branch with my arm wrapped around another branch and using my foot and free hand to operate the clippers (this is why yoga needs to make a comeback), out comes Gavin who just got home from school. “Can I go over my friends house?” Me: “What?!… ummm this isn’t a great time big guy.” “Well, his grandma will pick me up. You only have to say yes when they call… Where are you?” “I’m in the tree doing bee stuff. You should probably go inside. This isn’t a good time for a play date buddy.”
He ended up going next door to play with Thomas and the neighbors while I made a few more trips up the tree while giving the bees encouragements like “Everybody stick together!” “Hold hands and don’t let go!” Finally I got most of the bees and although I never saw the queen was fairly confident that I had gotten her. Dehydrated (You have no idea how hot it is in those space suits!) Jello-y limbs and absolutely exuberant I was done. I closed everything up, laid some branches over the hive entrance so the bees can do new orientation flights and not confuse their old hive with their new hive and called it a day.
You may be wondering why like some bee keepers I didn’t circumvent the bees from swarming. Some say this can be done by moving the old queen into a new hive. Not me, because I am too new to have a “certain way” to do things and honestly for every bee keeper you meet, they will each tell you a different way of doing things. The thing is, I tried. When it got warm I un-winterized my hive and cracked it open. I was so excited to be opening it up after months of no bee time. When I did, I accidentally destroyed four queen cells that were built, stuck both to the top super and bottom super. I was heartbroken. They were almost ready to be born and I killed them. I did see some older brood but no eggs and couldn’t find the queen. I killed my hive. I was a mass murder of bees. Or so I thought.
Over the weekend I checked the status of the blue hive (the one that swarmed). More queen cells. I added a medium super so they can stop trying to swarm and start making me honey and I have a new hive on order. I added another box onto the new bees in my red hive because there already wasn’t enough room for them. It was quite the adventure for sure and funny to hear some neighbor behind my house say “Hey did you know there is some weird person dressed in a crazy costume climbing a tree?” The response was muffled but I am sure it was along the lines of “What the heck?!” Learning adventure for sure and the bees will make sure that my life is never boring while helping ensure that I provide endless entertainment for my neighbors.
UrbanFarmingMom 