It turns out that the bees from Memorial Day weekend were not just hot, they were getting ready to swarm. On the 27th, the big hive - #3, swarmed without anyone knowing about it. Pa Keeper found the swarm in an old, closed up house nearby. Eight days later on Wednesday (June 4th), two attempts were made to catch the bees, but he was unable to get them out until Saturday. Also on Wednesday, Pa Keeper found a second swarm in the same house, but we don't know which hive they came out of. The #3 hive swarm was about 15 pounds of bees, almost 20 feet of comb, and lots of honey. This is after the first two capture attempts where they moved and started over on the comb. Busy bees. The unknown hive also had lots of comb and honey, but we don't know how long they've been in there, or even if they are our bees. They are not feral bees, though.
Because the bees haven't really settled down yet this year, we weren't expecting a lot of honey. But, with the #3 swarm and incredibly efficient bees, we do have quite a bit even before the traditional July 4th rob! Pa put the honey in jars with comb, now we have fresh cut-comb honey!
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3 comments:
How do you tell the difference between feral bees and your bees?
Do feral bees carry rabies?
Yes, yes they do. Not really...feral bees are darker than "domestic" bees.
Darker and noticeably smaller than kept or domestic bees. If they have been feral for several generations, the bees can be almost a black color.
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