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Friday, June 11, 2010

You Never Can Tell With Bees

9:30 AM "Sara, the bees are all flying around in front of the newest hive."

I had a feeling I knew what was happening, but went up to see. I could hear the swarm before I even got out of the car (it really is that loud). By the time I walked over, they had started clustering about 35' up in a pine tree. There was no way we were going to even think about collecting it. We watched them for awhile, gave them a stern lecture on poor life choices and finally went back to our own work.

3:30 PM "Sara, the bees are out of the tree and are all flying around back in front of the hive."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. I think they're trying to go back into the hive."

"I'll be right up."



Sure enough, in the couple of minutes it took me to get up there, they'd all settled down and were back inside and draped all over their front porch.



We called our bee guru John (Saint John, who for some kind reason hasn't yet installed call block on his phone) and he figures the scout bees headed out this morning, found a suitable tree to cluster on, everyone followed them...and realized they'd left momma (the queen) back at the ranch.

"D'oh!"



Maybe she's too old, somehow trapped in the hive, wasn't quite ready to fly out... Who knows.

Will they try again tomorrow?



"They might or they might not," said Winnie-the-Pooh. "You never can tell with bees."

10 comments:

Alice said...

Like Pooh, they are bees of very little brain. Perhaps they returned for a small smackeral of honey!

Gayle said...

Not sure I'd ever venture into this hobby, but I find it fascinating. I pass boxes like this when I go into town. Must be very interesting.

thecrazysheeplady said...

Bees are actually quite smart I think. Who else could keep 40-50,000 workers organized all year long...?

flowerweaver said...

Very interesting! I would agree, bees are very smart and industrious. I am enjoying beekeeping.

Dreaming said...

Oh, I love the A A Milne quote at the end of your post. Winnie the Pooh was one of my favorites to read aloud to my boys.
Great pictures!

Christine said...

LOL, okay that's too funny.

janbaby said...

Never a dull moment at the Equinox

Beekeeper Barbara said...

Will you try to do a split to prevent swarming? Maybe there's a queen cell you can use?

thecrazysheeplady said...

Well, that would be a thought. We were sure they'd go on and re-swarm the next day, but they haven't...yet. We did add a medium super, but doubt that would be enough to keep them from swarming if they really wanted to go.

DayPhoto said...

This was really interesting, Sara!

Keep us informed!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/