Swarms of Bees!

In this picture, Lee is looking at a swarm of bees in the weeping cherry tree that is located in our yard.  This picture was taken last May on a Sunday afternoon.  We had many of my siblings over for an afternoon of ice cream and cake to celebrate Mother's Day.  Everyone was entertained during the afternoon with a swarm of bees from Lee's bee hives. 

If you are familiar with bees, you know that the hive will not tolerate two queens so the new or old queen will leave and usually half or more of those loyal to that queen will depart with her.  The bees will swarm around the queen and closely guard her.  When she finally picks a place ( tree branch, or whatever suits her fancy) she will land and the bees will gather closely around her and protect her.  Other bees will fly around the area to make sure there are no invaders.  When the bees swarm, they are loaded with honey.  They do not leave permanently for a new location before packing themselves with as much honey as they can carry.  They are mostly harmless at this time and are too heavy with honey to attack.

So far this year, Lee has had six swarms from his four bee hives in the back yard.  It has been a very good year for production of the bees and for the development of the queens.  It has been exciting to watch the different areas that have become the temporary landing place for the swarms.  Fortunately, we have many trees in the back and they have taken advantage of all of the six areas.  Lee has many friends who are experts at collecting hives and they have been generous with their time to help him collect the bees and place them in their new hives.  So far he has given all the hives to his friends because he is content with the four that he has.

We are looking forward to the rewards of the sweet honey the bees will give us.  Lee and his friends will rob the hives in mid-Summer, leaving enough for the bees to survive the Fall and Winter.

We were delighted that Lee was given the O.K. by Duke to continue his hobby as a bee-keeper.


More Later.........................................Brenda