A Swarm Makes a Home in Steens

A week ago tonight Mark and I drove to the home of some friends in Steens who had graciously allowed us to hang a swarm trap in their tree last year. When we arrived, Sol was mowing. Don had no idea we were coming or that there were bees in the trap, which made me feel much better about the state of communication in my marriage. ;-)

Retrieving the trap went smoothly, even when the lid started to fall off and Mark caught it with his ungloved hand. A couple of nights ago, Mark inspected the box and determined the bees were not making use of the frames above them but continuing to build in the trap, so he conducted a relocation project. He said they're very docile bees (they must take after Troy) and nice to work with after the Delta bees.

Photo highlights:

We put the entire trap inside 2 deep boxes for transport.

This swarm went to the back yard for now.

If you're a beekeeper and you're thinking about getting this type of trap, it's important to understand that they're not easy to use, in terms of getting bees and comb out once they've settled in. Mark will likely be making his own traps from now on.

Do pesticides impact pollen and bees?

On Friday, May the 4th, these two light saber- vacuum-wielding grad students came to Prairie Blossom Bee Farm to harvest some bees from our hives -- about 100 bees total. They set up a piece of screen to increase their chances of capturing bees before they slipped into the hive with their baskets full of pollen.

Nice bee vacuum!

I wonder how they found us?

Thanks, Harry & Angus! ;-)

 My understanding is that they are going to test the pollen our bees gather now, and then test again later in the summer, to check the pesticide load in the pollen.

I'm excited that MSU is conducting research on this important topic. Hopefully their findings will help bee colonies all over America thrive.

Honey snobs and fine dining establishments.

We recently celebrated the birthday of DeLois, Mark's mom, by traveling to Meridian and eating at the famous Weidmann's Restaurant, established in 1870. DeLois is a big fan of Prairie Blossom Bee Farm honey, so we bottled some of our new harvest and brought it with us.

Happy Birthday, DeLois! See the honey bottle, already being emptied?!

Without shame we asked for extra bread, and used our own honey on it. (Don't worry, we'll see her again in 2 weeks and will refill her bottle!)

I realized that we were like those people I used to see in California, those winemaker types who would bring their own wine to restaurants because their wine was better than anyone else's.

Look out, world, we've become honey snobs.

For those of you who wonder, on occasion, what we look like without bee suits on, here we are!

To my left is half of the charming Fred, who is half of the charming Fred and Olga, longtime friends of DeLois.

A Day in the Delta with Guy Ray

This is a happy man.

While safely ensconced in my air conditioned office at MSU, Mark and Robert drove to our Delta bee yard to inspect the bees and see if they could harvest honey.

To Mark's surprise, the bees in one hive had eaten an entire deep super of honey and the queen had filled it with eggs. Our guess is that after the tupelo trees are finished blooming and before the soybean and cotton blossoms begin, the bees don't have much to eat.

A solid brood pattern is welcome news! Well, except when you wanted to harvest the honey.

Also to Mark's surprise (but not to mine, in all honesty), he'd forgotten his boots.

He'd also forgotten the Delta bees are, well, mean.

Robert was amused I think, as evidenced from these photos.

Attempted fix #1: boot bands

Attempted fix #2: redneck boot bands (duct tape)

Mark's ankles were swollen from stings -- the bees were no more gentle than they had been the last time that I was there, and all but one of the hives had a successful queen. So Mark newspapered one of our recent swarms on top of it, since that queen had proven herself to be healthy.

When combining hives, spray sugar water on the newspaper to attract the bees and make it easier for them to chew through the paper.

 Guy got to wear one of the new ventilated jackets Mark bought recently, and I'm sure he was thankful he was better covered than the last visit!

Robert is a talented photographer, and got some awesome close shots of bees. It makes not being there easier on me. ;-)

Maybe he'll submit this to a magazine for publication -- I think it's fantastic!

Pre-Order Your Honey Now!

We've harvested our first round of honey, and will harvest from Steens next week. The honey is settling in the tank, and we'll bottle this weekend, most likely.

If you have not already contacted me about reserving a bottle of honey, please leave a comment here, post on our Facebook page, or email me.

Indicate the size jar you want -- 1-lb for $7.50 or 3-lb for $15.

Thank you for your continued support!

A Swarm Call with Spectators

One recent Tuesday, I got home from work and Mark said, as I got out of my car, "Swarm call -- wanna go?" I quickly changed clothes, grabbed the camera and got in the truck.

We didn't have to go far -- an apartment complex in Clayton Village, about 12 miles from the house.

The bees were balled up on a stucco wall. Fortunately for us (and the bees), the renter called his neighbor, who called a pest control company inquiring if they knew of anyone who could save the bees. The exterminator had our number, and ta-da, here we came to save the day.

While Mark attempted to brush the bees off the stucco (they were gripping it rather tightly apparently!), I got to share bee info. with the spectators who had gathered across the road.

Occasionally, they would yell at the people driving by, swerving and rubbernecking, "Don't wreck!" Apparently, people in bee suits on the main road entering the complex aren't a common sight. We had more than one car make several trips past, trying to see what was going on.

One of the ladies was allergic to bees and afraid, but still curious enough to watch the process. The gentleman on the left is the hero who called the pest control company. He stayed out with us until everything was loaded up -- I predict he will be keeping bees one day!

In the end, I told Mark he should just set the hive body on the bush and see if the bees would follow the main group into it -- he thought he had the queen, but the workers kept regrouping on the wall. I said to our spectators, "on other blogs I've read about the bees all marching into the hive in an orderly fashion, but I have yet to see it."

Lo and behold, these bees did it! After a few minutes of our standing around watching, they regrouped into a cluster and began moving down the wall in one accord. Mark ran over and intercepted them as they were bypassing the landing board and headed toward the ground. Within minutes, we had nearly all of the bees in the box.

That was a fun catch! Thanks, everyone for making it such an entertaining experience!


When we got home, I got to see Mark's latest building project -- two wooden stands in the back yard. With the swarm calls coming so fast, he decided he needed a better place than the front porch for bringing bees that need monitoring. Plus, people won't come in the front door when it's got 5 colonies on it.

Chickens. ;-)

One step away from reality TV fame.

My friend Katie sent me to the A&E website to check out an episode of "Duck Dynasty" that includes bees. She thought it would be right up the alley of the Lewis menfolk. After all, the show includes plenty of camo, liberal use of the term "idiot," age winning over youth, 4-wheelers, swamps, duck huntin', and more facial hair than Hagrid could ever hope to aspire to.

You can watch the episode, commercial free, here.

If you enjoy watching grown men make fools of themselves and create eloquent analogies between bees and women, you have to watch this episode.

I laughed, was stunned by the size of the hive built directly on a tree limb, and would love to see the video of what happened after Phil got the hive home. They made it sound like there was no problem, but this beekeeper is aware that there's a long distance between a box full of bees and comb and a jar of honey.

Think Mrs. Kay's would share her recipe for pecan honey pie?

And I'd like to know when the Lewises are going to become reality TV stars. We've got camo. We've got bees. We shoot things. We blow up stuff. Oh wait. We don't have a multi-million dollar duck call company. And we don't have an Uncle Si (thankfully).

If Mark ever grows his beard or hair that long, I tell ya, we're in trouble, people.

Image from www.aetv.com