Come Here Honey
We raise honey bees here at the farm. We started with the idea that at least they would help polinate our blooming pasture legumes (clover, birdsfoot trefoil, etc.) and our flowering trees. Over the years we have enjoyed their presence. They have also helped to confirm that we do not spray herbicides or pesticides. Not a good idea to spray bee killer on the plants.
Bees have many enemies these days. Varoa mite, hive beetles, wax moths, GMO fields and neighbors that spray. Winters are tough on them as well. After some swarmed, I did not have any colonies that survived last winter. Not good for a beekeeper. I always put out swarm traps before the honey flow each year. I usually don’t have any luck. Swarms are a colony of bees that leave their current living quarters early in the year to look for a new place to live. Around July 1 this year Going out to close up our chickens at night I looked and there it was, hanging as a mass about a foot long and a foot wide. Not a big swarm, but a real swarm.
I went back out after dark when they would all be inside the box. I sealed the opening, removed the trap from the fence post and took it to my bee hive area. I had set up 2 boxes for a brood area. Frames already had wax cells and were ready to go. The next morning I took the swam trap over to the boxes, opened the top, poured the bees inside and closed the opening so they would not just fly back out again. 2 days later I placed some small branches over the opening and opened up the brood box. I put the branches in place because bees will go back to their old location if you move them a distance less than two miles. I only moved them about 75 yards. The branches make them pay attention to their surroundings when they have to crawl over them. It worked and I lost none that I could tell.
I put sugar water in their new home for something to eat. Even though they can fly and collect pollen from the plants, they are unfamiliar with the area and can use the help. I am always glad to help. When the bees collect on their own, they will stop using the sugar water. It is now August 14 and they are still eating the sugar water. Matter of fact, they have increased their inake. The queen is a good queen and has laid many eggs. They are hatching and the colony has increased significantly in size. I check on them today and they have increased the number of capped and uncapped brood. I was fortunate to find this swarm.
They will need to continue to store up food for the winter. I must keep the sugar water coming so they can build more cells for eggs and storing the sugar. To cut them short now would likely end their chances for surviving the winter. I may even need to continue feeding when I can during the winter. Opening a hive box when it is 10 degrees is tough on the bees who huddle for warmth. I will probably put some straw bales around to block the freezing wind. They have done such a good job so far, I hate to be the one to end their chance to survive and give our customers some good, pure, raw honey. Next year I will remove the sugar water, put a queen excluder on top of the two brood boxes and start to add supers as they bring in the honey to prepare for the next winter. We’ll keep some of that for ourselves and our good customers. It is a cycle of life like many other animals on the farm. I am proud to be a part of theirs.