These bees have occupied this space for about 10 days. Even though it was a rainy morning, these ladies were gentle (no stings) and have a LOT of brood and nectar. Looking forward to seeing how they fare at the farm.
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Talking about our beneficial pollinators today at Whole Foods at Forest/Preston from 12-3.
Doing our part to keep our pollinators safe – at The Blind Butcher.
This swarm decided to land at a local nursery in Dallas ( Redenta’s Garden Shops. ) They knew who to call! These friendly ladies eagerly marched into their new (temporary) home. Their box will be upgraded to a 10-frame model in the morning at the bee yard. No suit, no smoke, no gloves – just Bee Love.!
This colony swarmed last Friday while I was out of town. Another beekeeper snagged the swarm, however the parent colony was still in the home. Way up in the soffit of a 2nd story dormer.. The homeowner had spray-foamed their entrance in an effort to kill the bees… I opened up a hole for the bees last Saturday – and completed the bee removal this afternoon. Once opened up, there were plenty of bees, capped brood, and queen cells. I pulled 8 queen cells, then noticed that one was open – that was not open when I had pulled it 15 minutes earlier… And I watched another queen emerge. Here’s the rest of the queen cells – and a pic of the biggest queen cup I’ve ever handled. wink emoticon – they will be a good a A quick minute of today’s activities. (3 hives taken to the bee yard, checked hives from the splits I made on Saturday, and responded to an emergency swarm call in Allen, Tx)
I pulled the excess honey from 4 hives today. Yes.. 4 hives. Some of my friends know the math on the box weight…. Take a wild guess as to the weight of the boxes/honey. All hives that were doubled up with brood (2 deeps high) were split. The hives with the highest population showed signs of wanting to swarm soon (open queen cells, with royal jelly & developing queens in them) – so I gave them room, and created new hives with the 2nd box of bees – making sure to provide queen cells so they can have a mated queen laying eggs ASAP. These gentle ladies needed a new home so that the homeowners could put their house on the market to sell. I had a helper on this one- who shows a promising future in beekeeping. The valve box was almost 2′ deep, and there was a LOT of capped brood. I’ll leave the box for a few days, then take it to the bee-yard.
The broccoli in the garden has bolted, now that the temperatures are warmer – and the bees are making sure that the plants are pollinated for the next seed crop.
A North Texas leathercrafter contacted me for beeswax earlier in the year. His intention was to use it in a recipe as a leather conditioner and waterproofing (or water-resistant) agent. He used beeswax, and softened the wax with Neatsfoot oil. You can find recipes to fit your needs in many publications or online. Here’s his results:
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