The bees arrived Sunday!
You KNOW in your mind that you are getting a box full of 10,000 bees. But nothing prepared us for the site of them crawling around just on the other side of a screen box.
For the uninitiated it is a terrifying nightmare in a box. Even the sound of that many bees was enough to give us chills. But it was as fascinating as it was terrifying and after hanging out with the bees, waiting for a dry spot in the day, we started to get used to them.
Since Stephanie is still no-weight-bearing on crutches Jacob offers to do the leg work and puts on the bee suit. Kylie and Clara offer to help too. Look Ma, no bee suits! Wow, Steph, your brother and sisters must really love you! Check these guys out!
Everyone is excited about the bees!
Ok, time to pull the queen out of the queen box and put her in the hive first. The bees have had time to get to know her because she was in a little screen box, inside the big screen box. Stephanie taps her out onto a frame and slides the frame back in.
Now time to put the rest of the bees in the hive. They all work together to turn the box upside down and gently (remember this later, this is where it all went bad) shake the other bees out of the box, down onto the frames. Look at these brave kiddos with no bee suits on!
Most of the bees are in the hive! A few stay behind in the screen box so the box is set gently down on the frames so that those bees can join the colony.
I would like to tell you that is how easy it was and the bees lived happily ever after in their new hive. But that would be too easy and would take the fun out of it! When we return the next morning to pull the box out of the hive the bees have not left it. In fact, many have crawled back in. Notice in the picture below that you can see the box below Stephanie's white coat, it is sitting on the lawn chair. It is hard to see but it is filled with bees that are suppose to be in the hive!
The photographer who had done pretty well up to this point started to get a bit nervous of all the swarming and backed up. So you can't see it but this is Stephanie trying to figure out how to get the rest of the bees out of the box. Notice how many are swarming around.
After a call to a bee expert we realized we were too gentle when shaking them out of the box. The box needed a good shaking. We are hoping at his point the queen hasn't made her way back into the box because the bees sure don't seem to want to leave it. Stephanie's leg had had enough for the day so it was Kylie's turn to help out and wear the suit.
Kylie got quite a few more bees into the hive. Some stubborn ones still stayed in the box but she did a great job!
Interesting side note- This is Stephanie's hood after the first time she worked with the bees. Notice the cluster of bees on it as she walked away. One decided to sting the hood. This gave off a scent that told the other bees to come sting there too. Every one of these bees died on the hood as a result of stinging it.
Credit must be given to the photographer who was not crazy about bees when this whole thing started but who managed to overcome fear for the sake of blogging her daughters bee adventure. Stay tuned to find out if the Rainy Day Acres beehive makes it or if the bees swarm off looking for greener pastures.
Did you know- The Latin name for the western honey bee is Apis Mellifera.
Apis- Bee
Melli- Honey
Ferre- To bear
Honey bearing bee.
That is WAY TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT! I think I'll need to bring the children over to see the goats though :)
ReplyDeleteWow! Good job getting them in their box. Is there any reason that you can think of, as to why the first bee stung the suit?
ReplyDeleteGrace, anytime! Come let your kids feed some baby goats!
ReplyDeleteChris, I think one got caught in those wrinkles on the hood and got pinched or trapped and that is what caused the original bee to sting. I have had 3 whole days of experience with this though so your guess it probably as good as mine!