The Swarm That Got Away

It's been nearly 12 months since I blogged about our bees on the Ponderosa so I wanted to share my latest experience that happened earlier this year in February.  I came home one day to find my husband a little nervous about our bees.  I brushed it off quickly until he pointed to the cherry tree outside our dining room.  Aaaaahhh, it all made sense! 

Our bees had swarmed from our wine barrel and decided to nest in the cherry tree which proved to be a problem.  A) I had no idea how to get them from the branch into a hive B) They couldn't stay in the tree given it was right outside our dining table. I decided to sit on it overnight.  

The next day I recieved a phone call from my wonderful mother who had organised for a hive and bee suit to be picked up along with a visit from the local bee association representative to come and move the bees from the tree into the hive.  Seems my mother belongs to the local bee association and she had made the Ponderosa a location for her bees :-)

Along came the bee guy and explained what the process was going to look like.  He was armed with a cardboard box and some packing tape.  No bee suit or anything.  When he asked me to help him "shake" the tree branch into the box, I did so without realising I was only dressed in shorts and a singlet.

While he held the box up to the branch, I yanked it as hard as I could towards the box 3 times to ensure most the bees got into the box.  Luckily it worked a treat and he proceeded to tape the box completely shut ensuring there was no way in or out of the box.  He then cut a small envelope hole in the side of the box and told me "now we wait".

After about 10 minutes the side of the box became full of bees which turned out was a great indication the bees were all trying to get inside the box to where the queen was.

Bees out of the tree and trying to get into the box where the queen is

 We waiting for about 2 hours until the bee guy left with big instructions that once all the bees were inside the box, tape the holes completely shut and transport them to where the new hive is.  He then said to lay a plastic board down by the hive so it acts as a ramp, and dump all the bees onto the board.  They will then walk up into the hive and hopefully live happily ever after.

Quite nervous .. I did exactly what he said and taped the box shut.  I left the box in our shed as the sun had set by the time they were all in the box. 
First thing in the morning I lay the plastic board down and dumped the bees as he said.  Then it was a matter of waiting ... again.

Bees attempting to get into the new hive

  After an hour the bees had covered the hive completely and checking each hour for the next 3 hours, the status hadn't changed.  They all appeared to be trying to get into the hive.  Then at 6 pm my husband went to check the hive to find the side of the hive was bear.  He opened the lid to see if the bees had reached the inside of the hive only to find it was empty!

Bees .. gone!!

The bees had decided that this hive wasn't for them and carried onto another location.  It is fair to say that I was gutted, BUT I did learn so much from this experience.   Our bees swarm every year and I have discussed with Gig the option to look to relocate the swarm into the hive so we are able to utilise the honey.  This was the perfect opportunity that obviously wasn't mean to be.

So .. our bee journey continues and at the end of the year, I hope to have hive full of bees.

Happy learning peeps!