swarmed!!!!!

 My first swarm! I checked my hives a few weeks ago and everything was going smoothly in the first hive, but i noticed the second hive was very aggressive they were overpopulated and easily agitated. I noticed 4 swarm cells on a few of the frames and knew due to their size that I had less than a week before they would swarm. I received a concerned call from my grandmother and was there within the hour! I have seen many videos and read up on swarms, but there is nothing in comparison to the real thing. they all link together to protect their queen, who is in the center of the cluster. They truely are happy as it says in all of the books, their bellies full of honey. It all went very smoothly without any stings at all. No bee suit needed!

Have you been outside yet today?? if not what are you waiting for its a beautiful spring day, and guess what??..... The Bees are out!

long winter passing

after a long winter and many dreams buzzing through me, i miss my little worker girls. I had to take a visit to see them the other day. so I drove out to my grandma's house and was greeted with a warm hug from my gram. she is a sweet little woman. I outgrew her in the 2nd grade. 5'3 snow white hair and skin that smells like rose hip soap. She told me all about what my bees had been up to, and couldn't wait to tell me all about how she saved one! Each time i visit her I see where I get my love of bees (and all little creatures) She poured me a cup of hot dark coffee, and I opened up her screen door awakened by a cool ocean breeze the sun warmed my face as I walked down the ramp towards my apiary. There they were, at first it seemed there wasn't much activity, and as I crouched down beside the first hive I noticed they were moving very slowly there was a mass of bees at the entrance wet from the melting snow and some rain, so I took a stick and scooped them out of the way. After doing this I simply observed them lovingly for a while, it was then that I realized how much i had missed them.

merry everything!

I wish I could go on and on about how special the holidays are but in reality it stresses me out to the max! I usually make all my gifts, and I am a natural born procrastinator and I like to take on many overambitious projects just to make life interesting! this is why it has been a little while since my last post. My family and I went to Boston for Christmas eve and saw the Nutcracker, it was the most spectacular show I have ever seen. Ballerinas dressed up in elaborate costumes with glimmering tutus and fancy updo's and shoes laced tightly, I was in awe. After we saw the show, we decided to do a little window shopping in china town ( my favorite place to shop in Boston) My brother and I discovered this great Chinese herb shop, where I found this great tincture it is ginseng and royal jelly ( a super protein secreted by female bees and fed to larve during the first stages of development, however the queen is fed exclusively royal jelly which helps her fully sexually mature and grow bigger than her worker bees) I couldn't believe it only cost four dollars!!!

my grandmother the bee queen

This is my grandmother I have her to thank for my love and curiosity of these little creatures isn't she beautiful! she is holding my father as a newborn and my aunt peggie is playing with her new brother.  As you can see bees respond to her lovingly.

swarm cells

http://www.beginningbeekeeping.com/SwarmingHoneyBees.html 

I found this great picture of swarm cells today There are 7 cells in this image! 

When the colony begins to feel like their home is becoming overpopulated the workers begin to create these swarm cells ( for a new queen) so essentially they are waiting for the cells to emerge a virgin queen, if there is more than one virgin they will battle to the death until there is only one left to rule, however just before this occurs the old queen will flee the hive taking with her a SWARM of her most loyal attendants and they will leave in search of a new home together. This tends to happen in the beginning of May. Hopefully if this is your hive that swarms you can find and catch the swarm and acclimate it with a new unoccupied hive, because before these bees swarm they first fill their little bellies full of nectar to prepare. And when bees have bellies full of nectar, it means they are ready to draw lots of comb, which they secrete from a series glands on their abdomens. And this is why it is so great to start as a new beekeeper with a swarm as apposed to a package of bees ( who are all pissed of from their long journey, and malnourished) 

You might ask how do I find a swarm. If you feel like you don't have the time in your life to go hunting for swarms to catch there are other ways, for instance if you live in Maine, we have a swarm list you can sign up for through the Maine Beekeepers Association. So when someone finds a swarm in their yard and wants nothing to do with it, they call the town and the town calls the next person on the list. Its a Win Win!

 If the idea of catching a swarm of bees sounds frightening to you, there are always plenty of beekeepers who would love to help out!

Catch a Bee Swarm