A Thorny Third Atlanta Swarm

And so for my third act, I went into Buckhead to get a swarm out of a holly bush. It was about the size of a basketball and on the side of a very slanted backyard. It was a little hard to get to, but the homeowner said it was fine to clip back the holly. I took him at his word and cut off the branches that were anxious to prick my hands as I worked with the swarm.

You can see the challenge the holly imposes in its thorns. Before dealing with this swarm, I clipped all the branches between myself and the bees (or why it's a good idea to carry pruning snips in your bee bag).

I spread out a sheet on the hillside, sprayed the swarm with sugar syrup and tried to cut the branches to get the swarm into the banker's box (my standard for carrying a swarm home). I couldn't get photos and keep my balance, but it went rather smoothly.

In this photo above you can see the bees with their rear ends raised to send the nasonov signal that the queen is here!

I left an opening in between the ventilated cover and the box to allow the bees to join their queen. Hundreds of them did. I then, as in the last swarm, covered the whole box up with the sheet, draping it over the bees who had not entered the box, and carried them to the Morningside community garden.

I had a waiting eight frame hive there. I used a third box as a funnel to help me pour the bees into the hive. It works well this way with no frames in it.

Then I added the eight frames back into the box.

I closed up the box and left the bees to adjust to their new life as community garden bees. Pickings should be bountiful!

I stopped by yesterday to check on how they are doing and they are flying well. 

Protecting the Community Garden Beehives

For several years now I have had hives at the Morningside Community Garden, within walking distance from my house.  On three occasions, I have visited the hives to find something awry.  Once the entire top was off of the hive - inner cover and top cover and both were on the ground about 16 feet away at the bottom of the hill on the top of which the hives are located.

Once recently I was out of town over the weekend and when I came back the top cover was off of the one hive there at the time.  The bees were tightly circled around the hole in the inner cover.  It had rained over the weekend - not a lot, but some.  More rain was coming that night.  The top cover was leaning against the hive as if a human had removed it.

Every time this happens, I try to blame the weather.  Maybe the top covers blew off, etc.  This most recent time did not in any way look rain related.  I figured some teenager took a bet that he/she could take the top off of the hive.  Then he/she was stung and ran off, not interested in repairing the injury to the hive.

So I first put big stones on top of the hive assuming that the wind would be rendered powerless:

Then I ordered on Amazon this garden flag which is really cute but keeps getting blown off of its flag holder.  Today I'm taking safety pins over to secure it!

Maybe the rocks will deter the wind and the sign will discourage the vandals!

Beekeeping at Rabun County Community Garden

I've been invited to bring bees to the new Rabun County community garden. The garden is located just behind the Rabun County Civic Center where the Georgia Beekeepers Association meeting was held in the fall of 2009. As you can see in the first picture, the ground has been turned over and the plots denoted with posts.

In the far corner, away from everything, you can see where I've drawn a red bee box. This is where the hive will be located. The garden is on an old school ground behind a soccer field. The location is at the edge of a creek.



The 4-H members in Rabun County built a garden shed from start to finish. They cut a tree on my friends, Mary and Robin's, land and cut the boards and then built the building. Isn't 4-H amazing! These kids built a beautiful shed with two sky-lights in the roof.



The beehive will be sitting beside a creek as a water source. I plan to bring bees up, probably the weekend after Easter, to start a hive here. One thing I'll have to order is an electric fence - there are many honey-hungry bears in Rabun County!



Here's a view that shows how protected the hive will be. At it's back are trees and shrubs lining the creek. on the left side of the picture is a ditch. Nobody will be close to this hive. We plan to put up the electric fence as well as signs about respecting the bees' space.