Once upon a time a beekeeper had a big
hive at Island Meadow Farm. Time passed, and the colony failed, and the
beekeeper had other things to do. The bee boxes stood in an old nut orchard.
Once a swarm found them, and for three years the hive flourished, and then the
colony died.
The next winter there was a huge storm,
and the stack of boxes fell over. They were stuck together with wax and
propolis. In the spring, another swarm found them, and since they were dry
inside, and smelled of honey and wax and other good things, the swarm moved in. When the people in the neighborhood saw
the huge hive lying on the ground with bees going in and out, they started
talking about it. "Isn't it great that the magic hive has bees
again?"
"Yeah, it's great to see them. but
what will happen to them in the winter?"
So the people decided that it was time
to open the hive and move the bees.
They cut the comb out of the hive and wired it into new frames.
One of the
old boxes was still intact, and full of bees, and it seemed the queen might be
in there, so they put it in the middle of the stack.
Gradually the bees got used to the new
upright situation and settled in.
This is an ongoing project --
consolidating the big hive and removing the extra equipment. Next step will be
to divide the big hive, and requeen with a Russian/Hygenic queen from OlympicWilderness Apiary next week. More pictures soon.
On another note, we are thinking about
adding ducks to our place. Here's an especially cute, 10-year-old-duck, who
lives in the Poultry Palace on Maury Island. How could
you resist?
