hives 7,8,9

i have a problem.

i collect far too many hives until it becomes a chore and its not as much fun. there i said it and i feel better.

the bottom.line is - if i know a wild hive is destined to be destroyed, due to circumstances beyond its control, i feel an obligation to do what i can to save it. martyrdom? do-gooder? dont really know, but off i go to help out.

well, thats what happened, when keith and i got another call from the construction site, where we had pulled 3 previous ferral hives. he had 3 more that had to go. so, one early saturday morning keith and i set forth and did our duty. keith got into his ritual bee gear, but did go sans gloves - so he is getting tougher :)

the process of clearing out a wild hive is pretty messy and sting prone. bees are pissed and dont appreciate thier home being wrecked - even if it is to save thier lives. one wild card is always - did we get the queen - you will never know until you go back later in the day to pickup the hive box. if th e bees are in there - you got the queen. no bees in the box, you missed the queen and the whole prcoess starts over again.

through the series of photos, you can see keith smoking up the hive and as we progress on through claiming the brood comb and honey comb. finally we see the end result of wearing no bee gear.

thats right, i am wearing a fat lip, two quick pops by 2 different bees, pretty much showed the bees sometimes get the last word in the deal. well, 3 new hives are up in the garden and ready for combining into other hives to strengthen them up. as for the chore - i have taken my name off the swarm list at the bee store. now its all fun again - even the stings.