The Birds and the Bees - Literally! Part 2

The ladies arrived quite early today - at about 6:00 AM. They showed up with a hive, gloves, and a protective hood and jacket. They had the smoke can there too but since it was so early and cold, they didn't think they would need it.

They got John to help carry the super (I think that's what it's called) out to where the bees were.

The goats had to watch to see what was going on and to supervise. Here's Oreo telling them how to put on the hood.

Blondie is checking in with Roger making sure the Christine is doing it right.

So, this was the plan...since there was only one hood and Christine had a bad knee, Jen had to put on the hood and shake the bees into the box. John and I would stay far away.

Amazingly, the plan worked! The bees fell right on top of the box. I think Jen was stung but not badly.

The largest clump of bees was on top of the box but there were many other smaller clumps on the ground. I can't even guess how many bees there were. Christine and Jen were pretty sure they got the Queen onto the box and it would be just a matter of time before they all found their way into the hive.

Later in the day, after church we came back to check on the bees and they had all made their way into the hive.

At about 5:30 I went out to check on the bees - it smells so sweet, just like honey when you get near the super! I think I would like to become a beekeeper!

See the video of how they removed the bees.  Bee Swarm Removal

Visit the link for the Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association

The Birds and the Bees - Literally!

Today was such a beautiful day after all the rain we've had recently. Yesterday we had noticed some larger birds near the bird feeder and I took some pictures of them. They were called Golden-crested Sparrows. They're bigger than regular Sparrows. Of course, while I was looking out the window, an Oriole flew into the Bottle Brush bush, but I couldn't get the camera out fast enough! I took lots of photos of the Golden-crested Sparrow and this is the one I like best.

As I mentioned before, today was such a beautiful day that I asked John to bring the grill out onto the patio. As I was wiping the grill down I could hear a very distinct hum of insects. As I walked into the back yard, I noticed the sound seemed to be coming from the goat yard. As I neared the gate, the hum was quite loud and I looked up and saw the swarm of bees!

I quickly ran back into the house to tell John - (of course, I used as few words as possible so as to communicate in the most efficient manner!) and I also ran to put on more protective clothing. John, being the protector that he is (and I appreciate him for it) told me to stay in the house with the dog while he investigated. He came back to tell me there was a football sized hive of bees. I just couldn't stay away! I just had to get some pictures.

John told me to be very careful and to walk up the back steps. We were so cautious, but I had the 70-300 mm lens and we didn't have to get very close.

There were so many bees! The swarm was about the size of a basketball.

Later in the evening I went outside to get more pictures because the light was better (or worse!) and took a photo with the 18-55 mm lens just so I could get a picture of the size of the entire swarm. It was about the size of a heart shaped mylar balloon.

Oddly, as I was looking through the photos I noticed my camera caught the bee-hind of a bee flying into the swarm.

I've posted all these pictures to my Facebook page and John told me to tag the bee's behind (get-it?). That made me laugh so much.

Here's another good photo of the bees.

It was quite an amazing day.

After posting the pictures, my sister-in-law, Melanie told me there were some Bee Society members at the Gardens where she works. They had a website that listed volunteer beekeepers that will come to get your swarm of bees. They're coming tomorrow morning, early, to pick them up. More photos to follow!