Beekeeping IV

05 June 2012

A lot has been happening with our bees as of late. Indeed, I've resisted updating you about them precisely because every few days the story changes a little. 

I suppose it all began when Jacob relocated the hive from its perch down in the yard. The beehive was seriously cramping my clothesline, so I insisted that he find a different spot for them. 

And he did. About 30 feet from our front door. 

He sat down to dinner with me that night and stated blissfully, "Now they really feel like pets." 

Things continued merrily in this manner for a few weeks. The bees would get Jacob's last goodbye as he left for work and his first hello as he returned. (Bitterness? I don't know where you're getting that...)
  
A few weeks ago our hive split. This happens (apparently) when there are so many bees in the hive that when they hatch a new queen, instead of the pleasant fight to the death with the old queen, the regents make a truce and the new queen flies away with half the bees.

Read that last sentence again and muse for a moment on just how cool bees are.

Not cool? You say.

Try this: bees have sex while flying.

I know. Cool. I told you.

Anyhow, back to the saga. Our hive split one afternoon while Jake and I were playing on the porch...which we do...sometimes... 


The air filled with the familiar cloudy buzz of swarming bees, and Jake and I retreated to the house and then proceeded to take this picture for the blog:


And where did this new group of buzzers decide to relocate? 

A tree...next to the clothesline. Jacob put them in a plastic bin that evening when he got home from work and spent his lunch hour the next day driving to the other end of the world to buy a real deal bee box for them. Unfortunately when he got home that evening, they had ditched the plastic bin and were no where to be found.

So we were stuck with no new bees and an 80$ bee box tab. 

It wasn't all a tragedy because at least I got Jacob to hang dry the diapers since the new swarm of bees was so close to my clothesline. You cannot see them but they are nestled happily in that orange tree with the bougainvillea in it.


That WAS the end of my story. Until two days later...they came back. 

And this time we were ready.


So now...now we have two beehives. In the middle of Los Angeles.

And the end of the story is this:


My old Ikea curtains doing what they never knew they were always meant to do: straining Rhodes honey.

3 comments :

  1. looking forward to the day we can trade honey for produce.

    ReplyDelete
  2. you are the coolest couple/family ever.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I covet your honey produced by your very cool bees. :)

    ReplyDelete

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