The Tale of Two Hives

(Oh Lord, How I praise You in your beauty of nature You provide! I humbly thank you for the opportunity to care for a force that can better care for themselves. You, Lord, are beautiful in all the Glory You have created!)


"Oh, Honey- just act natural!"


It was a hazy Friday morning when I awoke and began my routine-  My routine being, wake up, and let the dogs out to pee. Typically while they pee I stare at the beehives to see what they are up to.  On this hazy Friday morning- they had big plans......

My hive that sits on the right side (if facing them from the house) is my sweet baby Buckfast. They were my packaged set of bee's that I got first in April. Being my first set of bee's I naturally have a soft spot for them. And even thought they have given me troublesome comb buildings since day one- I find them most sweet and endearing....but on this very morning I watched as they became a force of nature.

I saw it first- their hive was a cloud of bee's. My gut reaction was quite literally "oh crap." I knew what they were doing, and even thought I have never seen it before- there was no mistaken that the bee's were swarming.

Now all joking aside a swarm is one of the worst things that can happen to a bee charmer.  It tells the charmer that you didn't do a good job and that you royally messed something up. You could have messed it up in the way of not giving them enough room. If bee's run out of room in the hive, being that they have filled all the frames up with comb, brood, and honey, they will high tail it out of there. It would be like you living in an two bedroom apartment, with 60 of your relatives- how long would you stick around for?  Another reason the bee's will swarm is if their lovely queen is failing. The queen could fail in the form of - not laying eggs, not releasing enough pheremone to let everyone know that she is queen, or the bee's for whatever reason just don't think she is good enough anymore. One of the last reasons they will swarm is if the bee's are being invaded by mites, wax moths, or hive beetles. Those buggers can get into their hive and really screw things up for the bee's, so they'll jet if thats the case as well.

I watched, in awe, as about 3/4 of the hive poured out of its tiny little door and clouded around their hive. I knew at this point there was nothing I could do. They were fast and furious and I could only stand way back and watch. I read alot about swarming, and scoffed at my bee teachers when that was the only subject they focused on. I scoffed cause I thought, "well if you do everything right why would the bee's swarm?" "Why are we SO worried about it?" "And hey! Isn't it the bee's natural instinct TO swarm?" "I mean Its a good thing for bee's to swarm right?" "Save the honey bee's!?" Well here they are saving themselves and starting a new colony in the open wilderness! Shouldn't I cheer them on!?

All these things came rushing to my head.........  "Don't be sad Lauren.....the bee's are saving themselves!" "Don't worry about the hive- there is nothing you can do now and this will be one more colony out in the woods!" I was trying to keep my spirits up when my thoughts turned to...."but all that love and care...." "All that time invested..." "All that time thinking I was doing everything good and right for the bee's....." "All that money spent on them!"

Then I heard it-

It was the sound of a freight train running over a industrial ac unit.

I thought the bee's had hit the ground. I was ankle deep in grass (actually green colored weeds) and I thought "Oh crap!" (again) I'm gonna tiptoe through the tulips here---- and bee's! (ya even though I play with hundreds of thousands of bee's for fun, I don't like being stung.)

I put my head to the ground to look and listen. Harlem was still at my side at this point and she was doing the same......when it occurred to me to "look up."

While still bent over, I tilted my head ( for those that know me- as best as I could) and looked upward. I was in perfect position to see a bucket of bee's in clump form about fourty feet up in a tree limb. There's the swarm. Crowding themselves together- waiting for the queen to give direction, and in all its glory. It took me a second to realize what to do. It took me by great surprise that even though I knew what was happening and I knew that THIS was their next step after clouding up the place, I still couldn't get over what I was seeing.  Joking aside (again) it was one of the most beautiful, amazing, sad, happy, and terrifying things that I have seen. Here I was watching nature in its raw state. I might never see anything like this again. It was, as I said, terrifyingly beautiful. It was a pretty cool metaphor for me though, if you don't mind me explaining....

Here was this amazing site- that when I looked at it I wanted to cry out in awe, and amazement. I wanted to cry for what I had done them wrong and at the same time cry because I was happy for having them. The noise coming from them was nothing I have ever heard. I wanted to look but turn away my head because it almost hurt my eyes to watch. They gave only sweetness and it was mine to indulge in. I wanted to touch them- but I couldn't reach. I wanted to put them back into my simple, safe spot- but they were their own force. And as much as I thought I understood them- they still had mysteries yet to reveal. It was a site that could bring me to my knees and make me jump at the same time.  Yet again, the bee's were showing me God........

*sigh

So swarms are scary right? They will attack you if they see you right?
No.
Now before I go filling your head with swarm nightmares, let me clear the air (chuckle chuckle)

A swarm- is in fact- the MOST docile you will ever see honeybee's. If I could reach the swarm I could literally shake the limb of bee's into a bucket, and dump that bucket into a new hive. If the queen is with them- she is their main concern. They are at their most vunerable, and they have no honeystores around them to protect. They are defenseless and looking for a home. If you ever see a swarm in your yard, cheer them on and watch. I don't suggest punching them to see what they would do- but don't panic and think that they will form an arrow shape and chase you around the yard until you find a pond to jump into.......

I ran into the house and woke up David- he HAD to see this.  I can imagine what it must be like to have your spouse run into the bedroom in near tears yelling "The bee's have swarmed."  I swore he was awake already, but in fact- he wasn't.........until I yelled. David has great patience for me:)

By the time David came out I was on the phone calling my bee mentor.  What a good mentor to take my panic call (at 8am) and gently walk me through this. At this point it was about fifteen minutes after watching them pour out and form a clump in the tree and my mind was already nasueous with the thoughts of failure.  My bee keeping mentor was helping me with my next step options, and reasons for the swarm when I stopped him-

The noise was incredible again and I got close to the hive. The hive was clouded with bees and I couldn't quite see the swarm clump in the tree. I asked my mentor if it was possible that the rest of the hive was coming out but then I realized- they were going back in!!!!!

What a site!!!!- the entire swarm was (within half hours time) POURING back INTO  the hive!  They did it! They came back! WHOOOHOOOO! But wait a minute- what did this mean?!?!?!

I could continue to go into what I think being immense detail but I'll spare you those "shop talk," ideas, and stick with the basics- It seems as if the bee's swarmed, and when they got out onto the limb the realized their queen wasn't with them. You see I am the one that knows her wings are clipped. She in all her royalty, cannot fly. They swarmed hoping she would come, and she remained, in house.

Since they realized that she wasn't there- they poured back into the hive. No queen to give direction- no swarmy, swarmy. But this in no way shape or form, meant that all was well. They had swarming on their mind and for some reason I had yet to find out. They would do it again before the summer was up.

I immediately went in the hive and found out that they had some swarm cells going on. Swarm cells are queen cells. You see, the house bee's will feed certain cells a diet of royal jelly creating the egg to become a queen bee. She will grow larger and having the ability to mate and become fertile. The bee's will do this on a random and somewhat normal basis to create queen that will fly off and do her thing. But they will also do this, in hopes and aspirations of swarming with and when the new queen emerges.

I looked around the hive- these gals had PLENTY of space.  I think the problem was- is that they just didn't know it. They had one honey super that was completely empty and about three frames in the brood super that were empty.  It seems that these gals were determined to use only half the frames given. There were bee's galore, and all of them sitting around doing nothing.

So ok- I did give them room.  Phew. There was just ALOT of bee's and they didn't know they had the room. I admit defeat on this one. I should have been more aware of their mentality and comb building desires, but hey- let me tell you- I'm aware now.

The bee's were healthy and no signs of any mites, or wax moths, or hive beetles screwing things up. So thats was great news. Now it was just a matter of time to get this hive split and trick this force of nature into thinking that they indeed had swarmed...........


Next chapter- "You didn't knock did you?!"