Hey everyone, wow my last video did nicely folks are keenly awaiting this blog. Our first rescue for the year and what a successful one it was. This was not the largest swarms by any means, in the past we have literally removed bees which had combs covering a whopping 2m x 2m area. These were a far cry from that, buy what a calm pleasant, young healthy swarm this was.
We arrived at the clients house as we do and did our initial assessment of the situation. The client showed us where the bees are and we got to work. It is always vital to lightly smoke bees before working with them. This renders them calm and passive. As per usual we started off doing just this.
Check out this blog as per wikipedia on the bee smoker. They come in many shapes and forms, a vital piece of equipment when bee-keeping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_smoker
We have previously rescued bees from similar boxes. These fibre-glass boxes are generally used for either pool pumps or irrigation equipment. In this case irrigation equipment, bees really love these as hives, this would be our third bee rescue from this or similar!
After administering smoke I gently lifted the lid to see what I was in for. Naturally we had bee suits on this is another vital piece of kit always to be used whilst working with bees!
I just love this pic. I took a minute after smoking the bees. Check out the video here I did recently https://steemit.com/ocd-resteem/@craigcryptoking/return-to-editing-soccer-ball-bees-first-feral-swarm-rescue-of-the-year which actually got the attentions of berniesanders ;)
Can you believe how circular this hive looks? The reality is the combs are all built independently from the roof in a vertical fashion, however when they initially start building the combs and whilst the swarm is establishing themselves, have this appearance!
In the foreground we have our 'Super Sucker' The unit we use to safely and easily extract the bees into a holding container and before we relocate and re-hive!
Here is a pic of of the corner of the housing. As you can see my bee suit is white, bees are attracted too colourful bright colours, White is a great colour for a bee-suit as you are less likely to get stung (yes bees sting right through the suit) they do however render a little protection. We always wear a thick tracksuit under the bee suit. In regular 35 degree South African temperatures and given that some bee rescues take us 5 hours or more you can imagine how hot we get and how much we sweat. All for the love of bees and nature and with smiles on our faces we do it!
As I lifted this lid the very side of the whole nest was attached. As this nest was relatively new 3 months odd, it lifted with ease and the combs came off rather well.
Initially when the customer send me pics on whatsapp I thought this was a pool pump box, but alas. A simple irrigation system, perfection housing for bees.
In the middle of his garden sits the box, which was serving as a bee hive, this swarm was not a problem at the moment as they were small. The larger swarms become the more protective and aggressive they becoming, in a few months these could have possibly posed a problem for the home owner, we solved that for him as well as saved the bees and acquired another new swarm, happy days!
This pic I took after we had removed the combs from the fibre-glass sidewall. After gently extracting the bees and the combs we generally leave the boxes open and request the homeowner to replace days later. Feral swarms in the area will forage what honey and wax is left, clean it all up nicely and within a few days cover may be replaced!
Here we have the lid upturned after the combs had been removed. We use a tool called a 'hive tool' to remove the combs. Similar to a knife but for bees, check out more on that here as per wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hive_tool
I have always seen these larvae as 'Alien' can you spot the resemblance? One of the most interesting parts of bee-keeping is removing the combs and viewing the masterful work the bees have done. Here we have both capped brood comb, uncapped larvae (The white 'Alien like' larvae) Pollen as well as nectar, can you tell the difference? Any questions below in comments and I shall gladly answer!
This is the sign of a clever Queen Bee. Generally when we have a new or inexperienced Queen Bee the capped combs containing the larvae and eggs are scattered all over the place. When they are all together like they are in this pic it is the sign of an experienced Queen who knows what she is doing.
In the case of an absent Queen a worker bee can become a layer Bee, this can be seen in the orientation of the eggs and larvae. A Queen Bee lays eggs clustered together, a layer worker is less experienced and lays eggs all over the place!
Here we have combs around 3 months old. The colour of the combs is a good indication of how old it is, the lighter the comb the younger it is. Dark/black comb is generally considered older comb! In the comb nectar, honey and a mixture of pollens from different flowers foraged!
Now here we have something really special and rarely seen. These are baby bees busy hatching, at times these may get stuck so it is vital for us to put these back into their new hives as fast as possibly in order for the Nurse Bees to safely extract and feed them. In their first few days of life these babies are few and 'taught the ropes' Bees are very fast learners and are either taught or learn by experience or 'instinct' nature truly is miraculous, bees awaken me to this fact.
We never stop our bee rescuing endeavors and Friday night is no different. Tonight we rescue bees from a Tree, wish me luck!
Be sure to stay tuned for more of my epic bee-keeping adventures!
Have a super cool weekend.
Cheer$;)