Swarm-a-rama!

Today when I went out to do some work in the garden, I heard a tremendous buzzing nearby.

Not the usual and by now I know what this means....another swarm.

This is the post they decided to land on....

before....

...and after...

So I phone the beekeeper and he comes out a few hours later, happy to see that the bees have stayed put...for now. We have learned much about honey bees and are not bothered by this occurrence.

I ask him about how close you can get to them....me with my selfish motives for taking pictures!

This picture should explain it quite simply....

A little closer?...

There's about 30,000 bees in this swarm.

As long as you move slowly, you can put your whole hand inside the swarm.

I will honestly tell you that I'm not there yet.

Bob tries to coax them into a new box with some artificial pheromones...

 The scouts come out to check it out and will hopefully go back to the swarm and 'tell' everyone to move...

Slowly they start to check into their new digs...

But things are slow and the sun is going down so the bees are tired and quite happy and warm on the post.

They stay here for the night.

The next day Bob comes to try to get them into a new box but they decide to swarm AGAIN...

This time they go about 50 feet away into the Linden tree and stay there until Bob comes just after sunset.

He sets up his operation from the back of his truck...

The box is set up under the cluster and Bob shakes the branch and about 8 pounds of bees go into the box...

It takes a while...

here are some stragglers making their way up towards the box...

Bob explains that the bees decided to do this about 2 weeks ago and have been preparing to fly away by putting the queen on a bit of a diet so she's light enough to travel.

It is after dusk when he finally gets them into a few boxes.

The cost of losing a swarm like this is not only worth about $250, but also the cost of the amount of honey they can produce in order for Bob to make his delicious mead and wild flower honey.

The life of a bee keeper can sometimes mean long hours and it was good to hear from Bob that tomorrow he is taking off with his family for 2 days of canoeing and camping...

 A rest well deserved!!