On Collecting Bee Swarms

 
-->
It was our anniversary. It was pouring down rain. We love rain on momentous days in our life. And I guess we love a little bit of crazy too. And that is just what we got.

We were hanging out on the front porch when we discovered that our bees had swarmed in a nearby tree. It was accessible, so George Googled how to catch a swarm of bees. It involved a gun, climbing a tall tree, a large white sheet, and some raincoats.

George climbed the tree, shot out the limb, which dropped on the first shot into the sheet I held below and immediately dumped into a nearby hive.  All in a downpour! We didn't get any pictures of that swarm for obvious reasons. Based on the crazy, redneck methods we have utilized in the reclamation of our bees, we've made sure to document our swarm catching procedures since then.

Whew, we got them.

The next day, they swarmed again. This time they were kind enough to land on a more accessible branch. It involved a truck, climbing a tree, clippers, and a hive. This time we collected them and they stayed.

A few months later, they swarmed again. They went to an even lower branch eliminating the need to climb a tree. We captured the swarm yet again.

This, of course means that we have been able to nearly double the amount of hives that we have and in the middle of it all, we harvested delicious honey.

We were swimming in the pool a few days ago. Amelia looked up and noticed a swarm high above our heads in the branches of a Live Oak. We kept swimming.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Cattle Are Lowing

Love Them. Feed Them. Talk To Them. The Rest Is Icing On The Cake.

Mother's Day Garden Rescue