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I've been keeping this blog for all of my beekeeping years and I am beginning my 19th year of beekeeping in April 2024. Now there are more than 1300 posts on this blog. Please use the search bar below to search the blog for other posts on a subject in which you are interested. You can also click on the "label" at the end of a post and all posts with that label will show up. At the very bottom of this page is a list of all the labels I've used.

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I began this blog to chronicle my beekeeping experiences. I have read lots of beekeeping books, but nothing takes the place of either hands-on experience with an experienced beekeeper or good pictures of the process. I want people to have a clearer picture of what to expect in their beekeeping so I post pictures and write about my beekeeping saga here.Master Beekeeper Enjoy with me as I learn and grow as a beekeeper.

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Tuesday, August 04, 2009

The Bee Tree - Huge Success

Beekeeping is the best adventure I have ever had - every day there is a new wrinkle, something new and exciting to figure out or to learn. I never knew I would be dealing with bees in trees.

Yesterday Eddie, a tree man, cut down a tree near Emory and found that it was full of bees. Being a good person, he preserved the 12 foot part of the tree with the bees and brought it back to his office. He called his friend Roy, who called his friend Wade, who is a Blue Heron Beekeeper. Wade suggested that he call me and that is where this story begins. (It's all in who you know ultimately, isn't it!)

Today I went over to visit the bee tree (see earlier post) and in a panic came home to talk to Wally (Iddee on Beesource and Beemaster) and Cindy Bee, my Atlanta mentor. They both said that the best plan would be to upright the tree and keep the bees in it. It's illegal to keep bees in a tree, but the plan includes putting a hive box on top of the tree section and lure the bees up into it with food and frames and a box that hasn't been through an earthquake!

OK, I went to Eddie's Odd Job Tree removal company and conferred with Annette, who is in charge when the guys are out on jobs. I told her the options:
  1. Cut the tree open and remove the hive and hope that the queen survives and that there isn't too much damage to the brood, etc.
  2. Save the section and either:
  • Leave it at Odd Job as their own hive (which I would manage for them) - they are very near to my house,
  • Take it to my house or to Julia's house,
  • Take it to Blue Heron.
Annette thought Eddie might like to keep it at Odd Job. So I told her I would return at a break I had in my schedule this afternoon and bring bee veils for the men to wear when they cut the tree into the 3 - 5 foot part that was the hive.

When I brought the bee veils, the men were there and wanted to get started right away. This was an AMAZING process - the slide show speaks for itself. The pictures are a combination of photos taken by me, Julia, and her son Sam.



BTW, I stopped by this evening on my way home from work and the bees were orientation flying around the entrance to their hive!

I'll put a hive box on top of the tree on Thursday morning so the process of moving out of the tree and into a hive box can take place over the fall and winter months.

Let me also put in a plug for Eddie at Odd Job - what a process he went through to save these bees. He's a good person to know - the number for his company is in the first picture on the slide show.

14 comments:

  1. WOWIE-ZOWIE Linda!!! This is totally amazing! Great photos & great post. Thanks for sharing. DId you post this on Bee Master site? I read it every day, just like your blog, but maybe I missed it.

    I'm a beginning beekeeper (3 years) & you have had so many interesting experiences. The bees come to you :) It's your karma.

    Thanks again for sharing such a profound experience! Tam (flygirl on beemaster site)

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  2. Hi Tam, I posted it on Beemaster on the honey bee removal child board - this was a special experience and I feel so lucky to have had it.

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  3. Go Linda and Go Eddie!!!! Wow. What a feat and accomplishment. I hope all will be well for the tree bees. It's great that you could give them a new start.

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  4. What an amazing story from start to finish you have had my attention. What a great guy to want to save the bees. I'm with Tam on the karma.

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  5. Wow Linda...I am amazed

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  6. Oh my gosh! I'm lovin' reading about the Bee Tree!!! What a great bunch of people (everyone involved) in making that happen. Keep us posted on how the bees are doing. Take Care!

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  7. Linda! Congratulations to you, all the men at Odd Job and everyone else who saved these bees! I hope they will return the favor with lots of tasty honey next year!

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  8. Linda,
    This is the power of bees! What a wonderful thing everyone at Odd JOB did to save them.
    Gina Gallucci

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  9. Anonymous8:36 PM

    Way to go, Linda. This is super cool. I love the photos. I will try to use Odd Job the next time I need work. You are all to be congratulated.
    Hallie

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  10. Anonymous7:05 PM

    All I can say is, "Keep up the good work!" I saw honey bees at my hummingbird feeders this summer, first I've seen in Buckhead in 20 years. Hopefully they will proliferate with a good beekeeper like yourself.

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  11. Anonymous2:12 PM

    P.S. I found out the hard way that Yard Guard kills honey bees. So if you want to save the honeybees, you have to tolerate the mosquitos, sorry.

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  12. I'm going to try and do something like this myself here in the coming weeks. I've started planning it and need to build a hive for them yet but have a look!

    I'm Going to Get Stung for Doing This to the Bees!

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  13. Anonymous3:14 PM

    my dad is eddie thomas the owner of odd job and the bee tree its really cool all of the bees are now in the box but to add to it we also have got another bee tree since the frist one if anyone wants more info email me at goguy21@gmail.com

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  14. I really like to read this post on bee removal services. Keep sharing more about this.

    Bee removal Atlanta

    ReplyDelete

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