Sunday, May 19, 2013

Sunday Reading - Sorry About the Slow Postings





Sorry I been so quiet the last three or so days. I been extremely rushed and busy trying to get back ahead of things and believe it or not I am completely caught up once again. At least for a day or so until the mowing circuit starts all over again. This time at least I won't have a complete garden to get into the ground before mowing can start and I will not need to mow and trim the bee yards for at least two weeks either.

I finally got the mowing completed on Friday, which included the two outter bee yards and the in town property. I also got the captured swarm moved and placed into it's own hive Saturday. Finished stacking the cord of firewood I split from this Winters leftovers and made an emergency "Bee Expert" visit to a local public housing department. They told me they had an emergency swarm removal that actually turned into nothing more than a colony that had moved into the roof of one of their units. After explaining to them what it would actually take to remove the bees from the rafters of the building I think they finally got the point. Thier first reaction was all about saving the endangered bees and I think they were somewhat offended when I rolled my eyes.

I explained to them that yes I was all about saving bees when it was even remotely possible but they were insane if they thought I would recommend spending thousands of dollars of taxpayer money for one colony of bees. I don't think they even understood that it really is taxpayer money although I did later find out the director at least agreed with my assessment.

As near as I could tell the removal of that colony would have required a crane truck and tearing up a section of the roof and that is assuming the bees did not have a long entrance tunnel they were using. At first the guys were convinced the bees were living the high life in the attic. I assured them that honey bees do not build a nest but require an enclosed space to build their comb from and there was no way the colony would be exposed in the attic. After they checked that out and confirmed there were no bees in the attic itself they believed me that the bees were either in between the roof studs or in the wall studs in a cavity they had found. I gave them the name and number of a local guy I know with a bee vac that can suck the colony out but assured them they would still need to do some serious structural damage to figure out just where the bees were and to remove the comb and honey left inside even after all the bees were sucked out.

I offered to work with any contractor or whomever they get to do the work but I wasn't going to enter that mess on my own that's for sure.

Anyway then it was back to the Small-Hold and finally getting my soon to be fruit tree area plowed along with another few acres we are going to sow in grass for future hay and grazing needs. We got it cleared, brush hogged and plowed this weekend and hope do get it disc'd and the fruit tree part tilled next weekend.

I hope to be able to put another 16 to 20 assorted fruit trees in this Summer.

Rush Rush Rush. So much to do and so little time to do it in.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


6 comments:

  1. PP,

    I'm happy to hear you were able to get your grass cut and the weather has been working out for you. Hopefully, you won't have any of the weather we experienced tonight, and expect to experience tomorrow. Damn them ruby slippers didn't work!!!!!

    I can't believe the city was going to use tax payer money to get this job done with removing the bee's. But then again, it's not their own money so no worries right?

    What type of fruit tree's will you be planting this summer?

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    Replies
    1. Sandy - The storms weren;t as bad up here they were beginning to peter out a bit I think by the time they reached us.

      We will be adding an assortment of fruit trees. I am reserving at least three spots for Paw Paw trees which I just recently found out I can order from the State Conservation department. Of course the cut off for ordering was April 30th so now I will have to wait another year :(

      It really will depend on what I can find available. Every year the local places put huge sales on what they have left over and I buy as many as I can afford.

      Glad you all are OK and safe down there!!!

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  2. I am new at beekeeping. I got two packages of bees on March 18. Both hives have swarmed. What would cause new packages with young queens to swarm?

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    Replies
    1. Anon - Hmmmm I have heard of that happening. Did your packages build up and fill their hive already? Bees just naturally want to swarm but they usually won't if there is plenty of space available to keep building up. Did you capture the swarms?

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    2. Both hives had plenty of room. That's why we can't figure it out. We do have a Summer Tanager driving them crazy! Yes, we caught the first swarm but couldn't catch the second. We were outside and saw both hives swarm. We have a great video of my 8 year old son standing in the middle of it.

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  3. I have some bees that moved into a birdhouse. If you were little closer, I would call you to rescue them.

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