Catching a Wild Swarm of Bees

Our needs are provided, if only we can see the gifts that are right there before us.

This morning began like any other day. I woke, I had a cup of tea, then I went outside to continue Spring's work. My first morning encounter was with our friend the Bobcat. This time, however, it was up close, and personal. I walked along the fence line, taking note of what needed to be done. On my side, I have turned the grass under, but across the wire, is still quite high, maybe three feet at least. Apparently my friend was hiding there in the grass hunting squirrels undetected. I got about 20 feet from her when she sprung from her spot. Fortunately in the opposite direction. Fortune would be kind to me today.

After my fence inspection, I started working in the far lavender field. We have had warm weather this week, and the wild grasses are growing very quickly. They will suffocate the lavender plants if I don't remove them. Morning is the best time, as it is still cool. I went to work.

Suddenly, it was deja vu all over again. I heard a loud rumble in the trees. I dropped the hoe and went to investigate. There was the swarm I saw the other day. The sky was full of bees. I crept down into the trees and sat down in the grass directly beneath the swarm and watched them. It was quite amazing actually. I tried hard to see the individual bees through the mass. But they appeared as little black streaks. I practiced following one with my eyes for a while. Eventually she would take a turn and lose my train of sight, and there would only be the mass once again. A sky of little black ribbons moving in every direction like so much Brownian motion.

But as I watched, the mass started doing something. The streaks seemed to be going in a direction. Towards a particular tree. I looked closer there, and I saw it. Hanging about 16 feet high, the swarm had started to ball up. Wow! this was really cool. I went back to get my camera.

When I returned, there was silence. I missed them I thought. But searching the trees, there they were. Completely quiet. I sat and watched. Every now and then a clump of bees would break free and drop to the ground. There they would disperse, take flight, and return to the ball up in the tree. Perhaps I could give this wayward colony a home in one of my hives?

This was my first swarm as a beekeeper. So I didn't really know what I was doing. But watching the clumps fall to the ground, I came up with a simple plan. I would put a hive under the swarm, then give the limb on which that lit a little tugsy. They would drop into the hive, and we would all live happily every after, right?!

Fortunately, just yesterday I had cleaned out some hives for new bees that are arriving on Thursday. So I had an empty hive just waiting for new tenants. I happened to be on a very steep slope, I dug a flat spot under the swarm and set up the empty hive. I removed a few frames like when shaking package bees and I prepared to tug.

But could I get the swarm to drop in to the box? They were so high. The photo on the right gives you some idea of the logistical challenge. That black conical thing at the top of the photo is the swarm ball. Way down below, is the have box. Some how I had to get that giant ball to fall directly into the box. Oh, this is going to be a trick!

Okay, how bout a little test tug. With a long pole with a hook on it, I grabbed the branch and gently tugged. Nothing happened. I tugged harder, and a small clump fell just missing the box. Ah. I moved the box and tried again. Ah. This time they fell to the other side of the box. I repositioned it yet again.

Okay now I was ready to give it a try. I gave a harder tug. About one half of the swarm fell down and hit the box. Yes! But there were still more up there. I started tugging. Clumps would break off, but the smaller clump would disintegrate about halfway down, take flight, and reassemble back on the branch. This wasn't working. Bees were literally flying everywhere. I stopped and watched in amazement as the swarm ball reassembled right before my eyes, in less than five minutes. It was truly wondrous.

Okay, I sat and watched them settle down and rethought the situation. The initial clumps would fall to the ground, but the subsequent smaller clumps would break up and reassemble before every touching the ground. What I needed was a big giant clump to fall in one sweep. This was going to take a much harder tug. I hooked the pole on the branch and pulled with all my force. As I thought, a very large clump fell from the tree and broke over the top of the hive, which was now swarming with bees! I grabbed the lid, and closed her up.

I left for a while and returned about an hour later. I was elated to see the new colony was getting comfortable in their new abode. The branch was completely empty of bees, and the front of the hive was full of bees coming and going.

I always love watching a newly hived colony. It is quite wondrous. Look closely at the picture on the right. Do you see the bees on the side of the hive with their tails pointed to 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock? They are fanning. These bees are not crawling about, but rather stationary in this position. They are releasing a scent that calls all the other bees home, and they are fanning their wings to spread the scent far and wide. What a miraculous way to communicate through scent! And how appropriate on a lavender farm :)

I returned after dark and moved the hive to it's final location over in the lavender field. I thought how marvellous this was. I needed bees for my lavender and for delicious honey. And bees just showed up and moved in. How many of our needs will be met such as this without toil. All we need is faith to see these gifts for what they are.

Magic Kingdom

We can live in the midst of miracles, and not even notice. These last few weeks, that was probably me. In the last article, Spring brought with her much work. And I have been focused doing what needs to be done. For instance, take this fence. An ordinary rundown country fence that wouldn't stop a dog, much less any livestock. Not amazing, not wondrous, is it? Well, what about the work itself? Not especially marvellous either. Much of my time has been getting the grass down to expose the fence which was overgrown, trimming the tree branches to get the tractor through, staking out where the fence posts will go. So on and so on. I was certainly happy to be outside in the Sun enjoying the warmth of the outdoors. But I can't say I considered the job extraordinary. Some advice, whenever you think things are not extraordinary, look closer!

Okay, so yesterday I was out clearing a big pile of oak branches thinking how I wish I were done so I can get to the next chore on the list. I'm in the middle of the tall grass. There are dozens of different kinds of insects buzzing past my head. Butterflies, bumbles. wild honey bees, my domestic bees, occasionally those annoying face flies, a horsefly or two. Birds, there are these brown ones that hide in the brush piles that come out in a flurry when you pick them up. Lots of lizards scampering around the downed wood. I have to say, there was so much air and ground activity, I did pause for a moment to think how completely cool it was to exist right smack in the middle of such teaming life. Literally everywhere. And then I heard it.

My subconscious heard it actually and alerted my conscious. What I was dismissing as background buzzing was not the insects in my direct proximity. There was an enormous rumbling coming from an adjacent field. So loud it was drowning out the bumbles right next to me. A swarm!

I started over towards the sound. I had a few hives over there. And I noticed a huge swarm directly above. It was quite large. I ran to get my camera. When I returned the swarm was in full force. I shot this photo of the hive. If you notice on the left hive, right at the entrance a large clump of bees.

Oh no! My bees are swarming! I thought. I had just checked them about a week and a half ago and put a super on. They didn't look like they were going to swarm then! One of these days, I thought, I was going to figure out how to really keep bees.

I said to myself, I'm going to try to capture them in a new hive. I dropped the camera and ran back to the shed to get a new hive ready. I had on my list to clean out some of the frames from hives that didn't make it last year. The wax had been eaten by wax moths. It was too badly damaged to save. So I replaced the comb on ten frames. I wanted to sterilize the wooden ware just to be sure no new disease is passed to the new hive occupants. I had done some research on non-chemical ways to sterilize and learned that the wooden ware can be scorched with a torch to kill disease. So all the frames, the bottom boards, the covers, everything I scorched with the torch. Then I assembled a hive, and donned my gear and ran back over with the new home.

Ahh. The swarm was gone! There was a small clump of bees at the entrance. The mass of the swarm body overhead was gone though. Was I too late?

With abated breath, I cracked the cover open on the hive. I was fully expecting my heart to sink as I opened an empty hive. I have to tell you from experience, that emptiness where there should be bustling fullness of life is quite emotional.

But cracking the hive open, it was indeed still bustling with life! The honeys were home. You can see here the frames covered with the little ladies.

I pulled out some of the frames just to see how they were doing. You can see here lots of healthy bees working on this year's crop of golden honey. Mmmmm. I was tempted to harvest a frame right then and there. Every now and then a forager would walk by, legs completely laden with bright orange pollen. I guess all was well. Maybe they were just riled. Or maybe that swarm was from somewhere else. I hiked around the immediate vicinity. I figured if I could find it, I would give it a new home. But no sign of them. I was fortunate to be there at the right time to experience them.

Well, today I went back to working on the fence. And once again, back to normal. Taking some of the concrete posts out of their forms. Nothing special, right? What did I tell you about thinking that?

Look there through the fence and what do you see? Apparently this wild cat finds entertainment in my toils. A bobcat had parked herself just on the other side, a quiet observer.

No animatronics, just real life. What a truly magic kingdom in which we live.

Spring Break with a Vengence

Wow. When Spring comes, she comes. Suddenly, there is entirely too much to do around Lavender Hill. I find it difficult to even to decide what to do next. So I've enlisted the aide of the entire family.

Field Extension

One project is the lavender field extension. We are extending Campo de Fiori to include some wonderful space that had not yet been planted. Here you can see my daughter moving through the freshly staked extension. Heaven on Earth!

Weeding the Lavender

Spring warmth and showers bring weeds! And it's best to get them early, before they completely consume the lavender. Then they are really tough to get out! Here my daugher is working to remove some vetch from around the Grosso. It's manual, and tedious. But the plants do love you for your care. The pulled weeds are placed in the center of the rows, then the tiller turns them under between the rows.

The Tarantula in Our Midst

Sometimes it is the tiny surprises that make the biggest impression for the day. This day we were surprised by a little furry friend hiding between the plants. Look who we found, this tarantula! He crawled out while pulling weeds from under a plant. We have seen them from time to time. But this is the first time during the spring weeding. No bother. He seemed mostly interested in getting away from us, crawling underneath one of the irrigation lines where he thought he was hidden. Sorry Mr. T, we see you there! Anyhow, we let him be. He's most likely still there, hiding amongst the bushes. And I thought only banana pickers needed to lookout for spiders!

Wood Stacking Paradise

Lavender isn't the only thing keeping us busy on Lavender Hill! There are plenty of spring chores to go around. Here my son is stacking wood. He stops only to make repairs to the wheel barrow. I see him throwing the heavy wood into the barrow with a bang! And then he wonders why it always needs fixing? He he.

Building the Ark

And this year, the farm plan calls for adding hens to our happy farm family. Eggs have been a hot commodity with our CSA, and my neighbors have had a tough time keeping up with demand. So I have agreed to bring some chickens aboard and help them meet the demand. Here you see my son standing over the beginnings of what we call "the Ark". A mobile chicken coop. The coop will be moved from location to location where the hens can forage on fresh local faire while leaving what chickens leave behind, enriching the soil for the next planting. The Ark will have a wire bottom so that all the guano goodness will fall right to the earth. Appropriately, today it rained (which is why my son doesn't look so happy!). There was something symbolic in that :)

Stay tuned to Lavender Hill for our progress building "the Ark". Also this month, the new hive colonies arrive. And we will be planting out the new field extensions I spoke of earlier. Lot's to do. Wish us luck!

April is here, the farm is in high gear

Well, the last thing to do on the last day of March is to hang the martenitza from the branches of the tree that was the first to welcome Spring. Here on Lavender Hill, that was an Almond tree. The Almond was the first to break out in full bloom. So to show my appreciation, I hung the martenitza that I have worn since March 1st from it's branches. Thank you Marta for not being to cruel to us this year. Here you can see it hanging from the tree, with new blossoms and brand new leaves. Spring is here. How truly wonderful it is.


In fact, Spring is here with an interminable force. It's impossible right now to KEEP things from growing. The vetch is still growing like a son of a gun in the lavender fields. This is a full time job in and of itself. And the seeds I planted just a few weeks ago are already sprouting. I took these two beauties a zucchini and a tomato out of the coldframe for a moment to take a nice picture for you. Ahh, grow my pretties.



And with the warmer weather, the bees are more active two. This week I added a honey super to the hives so they would have space to store their delicious nectar. Maybe I get a nice crop this year. Maybe? Please? Oh how I do wish!


But more than that I pray that the new hives I establish this month stay healthy this year. I do not want to see a repeat of the troubles of last year. 2009 will be fine. And on honey we shall all dine.