Update: 14 August 2007 - Bees gone! See comments.
T. who I met through the Guerrilla Gardening Meetup Group asked me if I could host a bee hive in my garden. My house neighbours said okay in exchange for some honey.
They arrived tonight….
A Boy Bee
T[apprentice] & S[teacher]
There are bees in both boxes. The cardboard box contains a swarm with a virgin queen. S wants the bees outside to go inside and to stop the established bees from killing the new ones, she sprays the swarm with a mixture of sugar water and vanilla.
The old bees will lick the vanilla mixture off the new bees because they taste good and be accepted as friends.
In just over a day the swarm started building a honeycomb
Here they are at the entrance of their new home
Eventually they will get inside
Another view of the honeycomb they made
Daylight pics to be added in a few days….
-30-
That’s cool! I never thought of doing that in the city. I hope you blog often about this so I can follow the Bee Watch at Al’s place.
Carol — August 13th, 2007 at 7:06 amI concur. That is super-cool. Keep us updated. I’d love to watch the hive as it grows, since my allergies keep me from getting too close to actual hives.
Rebecca — August 14th, 2007 at 8:23 amAlas, the bees are gone as of tonight. Why? I neglected to ask my house guest staying until the last week of August if it would be okay. He, like you Rebecca, has an allergy to bee stings.
I might have been able to delay the arrival until after his departure if I had asked. Unless another hive is ready, I won’t be hosting until the spring.
Al — August 14th, 2007 at 11:30 pmI am very interested to know what was the proportions of water, sugar and Vanilla you used to get the bees used to each other, as I would like to do the same. That is get two different colony’s of bees together without killing each other. Did you spray both colony’s or just one? Thanks in advance, Zeb
Zeb in Fla. — March 21st, 2008 at 11:17 amYou can use a 2:1 ratio…i am not sure about the vanilla, that is sheilaghs trick…i wouldn’t think it necessary, but i would use a drop or two. the bees are really sensitive, so i wouldn’t think you would need much. oh and we just sprayed the swarm.
tammy toad — March 21st, 2008 at 12:47 pm[...] T was featured in a blog post last summer. Yesterday, she sent this email and I received permission to print it [...]
Bokashi Blog » Guest post: The hive mind — June 9th, 2008 at 6:15 pm