Sunday, June 15, 2014

Lost a Swarm (maybe) and Other Bad News





After I had done my duties for the day as a husband and a son by going to breakfast with the little wife, taking her shopping, mowing my dad's lawn etc. I finally got down to check on two of my outter bee yards this afternoon. As soon as I got out of the truck up at the North Apiary I could hear the swarm. It had just left my oldest hive and was mostly still in a large cloud. I stood there and watched waiting to see where they would ball up and they chose the worst possible place, for me anyway.

Forty or so feet up a tree with a trunk not much larger than maybe 4 inches at the base. A long tall whip-like thing and nowhere to even hook a ladder to. This is the first swarm I have had in over five years now that has landed in a spot I cannot get to. I guess it was bound to happen sometime and since the North Apiary is in some pretty heavy old growth hardwoods it makes sense it would be there.

It's a good sized swarm too but I guess I am just going to have to hope they move into one of my nearby traps. There are a couple of old bee trees scattered about, although none are currently occupied, so it is possible this swarm may go feral on me.

I have to work in the morning so I will check on it when I get back tomorrow and just hope they go for one of my traps as I said. Trouble is I had so few losses this Winter I am now out of old comb in my traps. The old comb is a pretty good invitation to a swarm that I believe often makes their minds up for them.

Swarm season has been really slow this year so I am kinda surprised this hive swarmed. Their box was so empty a month ago I almost thought about reducing their real estate and there were no swarm cells in the hive then either.

Oh well. Even if this swarm escapes into the wild it will add to the general local population and may supply me with swarms long into the future.

Oh ya I almost forgot. We lost the bottle lamb yesterday. The vet finally admitted he had no clue what was wrong with the little guy and we decided to put him down. About a week ago he got to where he wasn't walking and he then developed a urinary tract infection of some kind as well. The vet tried all kinds of stuff and anti-biotics etc. and nothing worked. The poor little guy just kept getting worse and worse and the bill was getting larger and larger.

That means we lost two boy lambs this year out of 24. We fell two short of my overall prediction as well I think. The other 22 lambs are doing fine though and I think we are half and half on ewes to whethers now.  

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


12 comments:

  1. Not the best of days. 40' seems abnormally high for a swarm to ball up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MV - Yep I have never seen one so high before around here and I have caught a fair number out of trees. It is way the hell up there. I went up after one that was in a tree right next to where this swarm is and I had my ladder fully extended to 30 foot and tied to a branch then so that's why I am pretty sure this one is at about 40 feet more or less.

      Delete
  2. Sorry to hear about the lamb, but all-in-all, it seems like a pretty good year for little sheep, yes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carolyn - Ya we usually lose one but then again we have never had over 20 in a season before. I would say the loss is about what we have been experiencing sitting at around 8% or so more or less. We had one still born and this one was one that we had to get the vet to pull. He thinks perhaps it may have been injured in the birth somehow.

      Delete
  3. Mother nature can be cruel at times and as sweet as an angle other times.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rob - Ya that lamb seemed to be normal for weeks. Was running and playing and had his own routine then in the space of a few days dropped like a rock.

      Delete
  4. They sold the ones at work that were ready to go including the ram. I think they were surprised at how many people wanted to buy them compared to past years. They could have sold 3 times the number at a higher price. I think people are looking to alternatives to beef.

    ReplyDelete
  5. PP,

    Sorry to hear about the swarm and your little lambs.

    ReplyDelete
  6. PP - i love learning about swarms and what you do and how you do it. just don't go climbing up on ladders when they are up that high. you are right about maybe those bees will provide bees for you in the future and it is good that they are in your general area for pollination.

    one day, i swear i am going to keep honey bees. i'm just still a little too afraid of not taking proper care of them and if i got honey bees and lost them or they died, i would feel horrible about myself.

    i am sorry about the little bottle lamb. but you did all that you could.

    much love to you and yours! your friend,
    kymber
    (i didn't even call you wiener in this comment!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sorry about the lamb...

    Ah, heck. Just go ahead and shimmy up that there limb and grab those bees. It won't hurt...really.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sigh. The reality of life in the country that most people never see.

    ReplyDelete
  9. People think it's easy.
    PP I accidentally removed your comment from my blog. No need to link, our subject matter is slightly different lol. But I love the information you are providing!

    ReplyDelete

Leave a comment. We like comments. Sometimes we have even been known to feed Trolls.