Chapter too-

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." 
Proverbs: 16:24


It was time to split the hive.


If I wanted these bee's to stick around that is what I had to do....




and I was terrified.  


After seeing the bee's swarm, and after entering the hive and seeing the attitude of these sweet gals change into angry, moody, herd of emotional teenagers....my confidence level as a bee charmer had all but disapeared.


I sought the advice of five (count em) five bee keepers and this is the advice that they had given me. Split, split, split and do it ASAP!  
So what did splitting the hive entail?


It meant to go inside- deep into the brood boxes (gulp) and mess things up a bit. It meant to pull five frames out containing honey, brood in all stages, and the swarm cells that I had pictured previously, all while looking for the queen and making sure that she is not on one of these frames. It meant dismantling all the work the bee's had done and rearrange it a bit. It meant go in there- and face their tudes. It meant it was time for me to break down and get a bee suit, and quite possibly a suit of armor.  The bee's are not like they were begininng of the season- they are getting a little grumpier. Nectar flow is stopping, pollen is scarce and its hot as crap outside.  The bee's that were born four weeks ago are getting older. The older a bee gets the smarter a bee gets. And the smarter a bee gets the more attitude she can gain. Also- since the nectar flow is coming to a close, there is a lot of house bee's hanging around with no jobs to do. Quite literally, when you open the hive you are face to face with some youngins just chilling there wondering if they heard you knock or not. I was up against a massive colony, and about to embark on a task I had never done before, and haven't the slightest clue as how to do.


Jump to Sunday- ( we will skip the part about me pacing nervously for about 52 hours, losing sleep, and dreaming about the bee's.)


About 7:30 Sunday night my ever patient husband told me he was gonna help me do this. We talked about our game plan and got everything set up before we broke into the hive. We were geared up and took a couple shots. Not kidding.


Working with the bee's at this time of day was fantastic. They were quiet and tired from the heat of the day and they were gearing down to spend their night in.  I took the covers off and leaned them up against the new hive box ( that was facing a different directions and about 6-7 feet away) Immediatlely we wittnessed a cool act of nature.  The bee's marched right up the cover and into the box.  You see bee's like to walk upwards. (they are always thinking towards the Heavens) And in the moment we put that cover there against the new hive they went in. There was a line of them on top giving off the signal to say this is home, and their cronies marched and followed. There was no incentive in the new box yet- no comb, no brood, no queen. But as if they new what their new task was, they took too it fearlessly. How cool.


The most time consuming part of this whole ordeal was looking for her majesty.  We didn't want to move these frames with swarm cells over and include her majesty on them leaving one hive queenless.  There was ALOT of bee;s to look through- but we did it. We got five frames into the new hive box, and put five empty frames into the old one giving the bee's something to do. In in the past couple days of having this new hive to look at each morning I haven't let go of my breath.


Each morning while letting my dogs decorate the lawn, I watch these bee's.  The two hives that I had are lazily collecting water in this heat, and frantically propolizing anything in site. While the new hive sits quiet and dormant. Hardly any bee's coming out, and no bee's going in.


In the next three to four weeks I pray that a healthy queen emerges, and find a suitable suitor.  It is up to her to go out and find a mate, return to the hive and start laying. She has a great tasks ahead of her. She must lay enough brood to build a strong colony to help survive the winter. She must be of good stock and gentle nature to mind me going in every few days to check on her offspring and nursery. She must continue laying through the harshest of cold days, and emerge in the spring to begin the new season. She must do this and no one is asking her to.


These gals teach me something new everyday. They demonstrate hard work, and patience, love and tender care. Acceptance and loyalty, sweetness, and a sting.


I hope you enjoyed the story and as always I invite as many question as you want. They help me to learn and dig deeper in the understanding of these little buggers. I insist however that you don't refer to me as a bee keeper, because there is no keeping these bee's. They keep me:)