Sarver Hive Removal

+1 for Craigslist! On a whim in between classes yesterday I decided to check Craigslist for honey bees and boy did I get lucky. 10 Mins before I searched a nice gentleman from Sarver, PA made a post looking for a beekeeper to come to his house and remove a fallen tree with a hive of honey bees built in. After my email he got 3 other calls from other beekeepers - he told me I could get the first crack at them.

I thought he might have been exaturating when he told me the segment was 10 feet long and 20" in diameter but he was right on the money. This sucker was huge! He did however have a nice chainsaw which we put to good use cutting it into a 5foot segment that we were able to lift and place in the back of my SUV. I put a screen over the main entrance and let the bees settle for a few mins then I was off!

These bees looked very unique; they were very brightly colored yellow - the swarms I had been collecting were very dark. These guys looked like chubby little yellow jackets. Beautiful! Right now I'm leaving them near the other hives in the log; the plan is to keep them there over the Winter and maybe hive them in the Spring. Its on its side currently, but a friend at beemaster.com said it would be a good idea to tilt it upright so that they don't abscend. I also plan on giving them a few shots of warm sugar syrup to help get them going these next few weeks.

New Home!

Hooray! We finally made it into our new house and things are going great - especially for the bees! We moved them from my mentors place to one side of our yard and I put both hives about 6-8 feet apart facing south west. They are blocked on 3 sides by trees so that helps with any wind issues and they get sunlight (when its out :p) a good 60-80% of the day.

When I first decided to move them I went to try and do it myself which was a pretty big mistake. Luckily I stopped before too much damage was caused and when we came back the next day together we strapped them in good and tight and with the help of my mentor's brother and his truck we tugged them up the hill and transferred them into our SUV. Even with both hives securely strapped and very tightly fit into the backseat I was still pretty nervous - when I tried to move them the previous day I took a few stings on my foot and it swelled up pretty bad.

Its been a few weeks now since they've been home and I added another super full of empty frames for them to build up on and expand. When we were moving them they both seemed a little crowded. Its a little late in the year for them to build up too much but I wanted to give them space if they needed it. I'm anxious to see how they do now that its getting closer to winter, we'll see
in the spring!