Hello again!

It has been almost 2 months since my last post, and I am soooo sorry. It just seems like I have been really busy, then when I think "I should update my blog" I am like NAH. My bees are doing GREAT they are busy busy busy. The "Honey flow" is on, and it is the busiest time of the year for a honey bee. Honey flow is a term used by beekeepers indicating that one or more major nectar sources are in bloom and the weather is favorable for bees to fly and collect the nectar in abundance. In June the days are long enough that the bees can fly for 14 to 16 hours a day, and they are (when it is not raining, bees cannot fly in the rain).

A week or two ago Greg Drake called and asked if I wanted to help him catch a wild swarm that someone had called him about removing. Talk about excited!! I felt like a kid again! So went out to Sugar Grove and caught a wild swarm. It was relatively easy. The bees were on a large fence post right next to the ground. We were there about 20 minutes, and that is counting all the talking we had to do with the people that lived there. I will post some pics of "The Wild Swarm" as soon as I get them from Greg. I have to say that I feel confident enough to go catch one by myself now. I got to keep the bees too, which was an added bonus that I wasn't expecting. I was just along for the learning experience, but hey, I will take the bees too! I took the bees home got my hive and stuff together to put them in just to see that I didn't have a lid for my extra hive. So I built a temporary lid real quick and was ready to go. When you see the pics of the swarm install you will also notice that My hive bottom board is not painted either, well YOU CAN'T EXPECT ME TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING! But I have two so I went ahead and used an unpainted one and have now painted the extra one, so next time I go check them I will switch out the bottom boards. I checked these bees six days after we installed them and they had already made four frames of honey comb and the queen had already started laying eggs! That is more than my first two hive did in three weeks! So I've got big hopes for this hive. Also, for future reference this hive is not at my house with my first two hive, it is @ my parents house. My Brother and Mother are interested in getting some hives next year.

Here are some pics of Lindsey helping me install "The Wild Swarm". Notice her very stylish beekeeping boots!

Lindsey dumping bees into the hive

Lindsey checkin' it out

That's alotta free-bees! (get it...freebies, free-bees)

That is honey comb that the bees built on the top of the box we caught them in. They were only in that box like three hours!!

That is one HOT beekeeper right there!