Bees!
Zack has fond, childhood memories of helping to rob honey from the bees his grandfather kept. Later, Zack and his father kept a few bees as well. So for years, Zack has talked of having our own bees here at the ranch. There have always been bees in various trees here. But we’ve never “cultivated and managed” them. I rather hoped he’d only talk of this and never actually do it. But oh no, not Zack. When he plans a thing, it happens.
Early this year, Zack started ordering supplies. His father delivered the supplies he still had, passed down now to the third generation (like the wine-making supplies he gifted us with a few years ago). For weeks, we had a pile (including two hives and “supers”, several smokers, hats, veils, and other equipment) growing in our living room. In April our bees arrived (thanks to someone locally who picked up his own bees — over a hundred miles away. He very kindly offered to pick ours up, too).
We donned our safety gear, prepared sugar water to calm the bees (keeps them busy eating), and readied the hives. Zack was excited. I was terrified. But when we started the procedure, I didn’t even think about all those potential stingers buzzing around us. The bees weren’t aggressive, and we were as protected as possible. No one was stung.
We prepared the hives and frames, and opened the two “traveling boxes” (not so easy) that contained our two complete sets of bees, each with a queen. We “poured” them into the new hives (interesting to say the least), placed the queens, inserted the frames, provided sugar water for them to eat until they found their own food, and left them alone. They seemed to like their new digs, and as far as we know, they’re just fine. We see plenty of bees visiting various flowers all around the ranch. Zack checks the hives periodically (without all his gear now), and we hope to have honey in a year!
About a month after our bees arrived, a neighbor called to ask if we could clear a water meter box where bees had taken up residence. (Small town, news travels fast). Zack, always optimistic, readily agreed and ordered a third hive. While we awaited its arrival, spring rains flooded the meter box. By the time the hive arrived, the bees had deserted for higher ground. I was secretly relieved, but Zack was terribly disappointed. He’d been looking forward to yet another new experience — and a third batch of bees to add to his growing little apiary.
A couple of days ago, there was another call. A different friend asked if we’d like to remove bees that had invaded his pump house. None of his ranch hands wanted to go into the building. This time Zack was ready. (I was again terrified). So today, in the heat of the summer, we packed up crowbars, smokers, buckets, hats, veils, etc., donned all the protective gear and dove into our next adventure. We located the bees within a wall of the small structure, turned off the electricity, and (with great difficulty) pried loose several boards. This did NOT please the bees. We set a rag on fire in a smoker (which has a small bellows-type device on one end) and calmed the bees somewhat with smoke. (The sugar water only works if they’re hungry. These bees had an established honeycomb and plenty of summer flowers to visit).
It was difficult, hot work in the little building, and by the time we had pried enough boards away to uncover the honeycomb (and several hundred bees), Zack was starting to cramp up badly. We robbed some honeycomb and decided to return another day to finish the job. Several bottles of Gatorade later, we squeezed the comb through cheesecloth and enjoyed some honey for our day’s efforts. I’ll let you know later if we’re able to capture the queen!
