We have new tennants! Tom discovered them last night while mowing the backyard. We're not sure where they came from but he swears they weren't there last week when he mowed and I didn't see them earlier this week when I was at the back gate. Given the size of the hive they've been busy little bees LOL Tom's brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Vicki, raise bees so next time they're in town hopefully they can tell us a bit about what's going on. We're also checking in the neighborhood as we do have at least one bee keeper nearby and it's possible they've had a hive run away. At this point all we really know is they're gentle and good natured and aren't even disturbed by the noise of the lawn mower. Still, we'll be leaving them alone and keeping our distance LOL There's two more shots over in the 'photo' section including a close up showing the amazing number of bees gathered on the comb. Provided they don't belong to someone else and Jeff can instruct us it might be nice to have a bit of honey from our own property provided it leaves them plenty for the winter. We'll keep you updated as to what happens with our new friends = )
Update
Sunday, 8/14/2011
Tom's brother Jeff arrived last night to check out the hive. He confirmed they were honey bees and said it was likely they'd come from a hive that had grown too big and split off. Best estimate was around 2000 bees in the hive. We missed the collection but Jeff smoked them a bit and then carefully trimmed the hive away and placed it in a bee box then left the box under the lilac until late evening. From his report the bees were happy to be moved as they were surprisingly docile and he wasn't stung even once. Boxing the hive and then letting it set gives the bees a chance to return to their new 'home' and settle in before being moved to a new, safer location. I'd have loved to have kept the hive but future tennants and the insurance company likely wouldn't have been to happy about it. They'll be safe and secure over the winter with Jeff and Vicki's other hives = )
I can't wait to see what other surprises - of the good kind! - the Cauldron may have in store for us.
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