Swarm!!!

Went out to the see the girls at the Farm on a absolutely gorgeous day along the coast.  As I was prepping the smoker, I heard a louder buzz than the hives usually put off.  Bam!  My biggest hive decided to swarm.  I followed them with the iPhone for a while, until they settled on a nearby branch down a steep hill.  I decided to tend to my bees and hive the swarm afterwards.  Well, a swarm in the bush isn’t worth a bit until it’s in a hive body.  I went to the barn to procure a ladder and when I returned, Poof!  They were gone.  Just goes to show you, you gotta get while the gettin’s good.  Not all was lost though.  They colony had built a bunch of beautiful queen cells, and having one hive that was queenless, I decided to transfer a frame with 3 queen cells and 4 extra frames with bees to start a new colony.  I used a totally new medium body, and shook all the other bees out of the old hive body away from the hive.  This way, the laying workers shouldn’t find their way back to the hive, and our new queen will emerge, mate, and hopefully thrive!

Here are a few video clips of the swarm:

Vid 1

Vid 2

Vid 3

Menlo Park Swarm

Finally, a swarm.  Actually it’s my second, but the 1st doesn’t really count as it was a small one from my backyard hive.  I love going to a new place and finding a big cluster of bees hanging out.  This time it was in Menlo Park.  Jack from Los Altos Honey Bees linked me up with the homeowners.  He’s out of town right now and couldn’t take the call. Since I live in Redwood City, it was super close.

The girls were about 6-8 ft up hanging out on a tree branch.  I was in such a hurry to get over that I forgot my ladder, but no worry, as I used the recycle bin as a perch.  I talked with the homeowner for a bit about the bees, what they were up to, and what would happen when I shake them.  She stepped inside and had a great view from a window right where the bees were.  It was a fairly good size cluster, and I got most of the bees in on the first shake.  I happened to have some old comb with pollen and honey, and they seemed to take right to it!  Even better, because they queen will have a place to start laying right away.  I would imagine it’s a mature queen, as the cluster was a pretty good size.  I’ve found that the big clusters are usually with the mature queens, but then again, bees do crazy things sometimes 🙂  I didn’t look around for her, but will head back later tonight to pick them up and move them to a new home.  I am thinking I’ll take these girls to my yard in Los Altos, and who knows, I may even get some production out of them!

  Thanks for the call Jack!  I really appreciate it.  These girls will have a nice home and contribute to the future of State Street Honey!

State Street Honey Is Here!

The spring winds are here, and riding in are some big changes.  First off, an official announcement:  State Street Honey is finally here!  This past winter was a tough one, but we’ve managed to pull through and bring the colony numbers back up to 24.  Our goal for year-end is 35 healthy colonies.  This will put us on track to produce somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 pounds of honey.  Whoa.  That’s a lot of honey.  What the heck am I going to do with all that sweetness?  Well, I have many thoughts, but offering it to you, my hopeful customers is the main idea. Honey in a bottle and fresh comb are the main choices for the time being.  If you’ve got an interest in tasting some fresh, local, artisan honey, then I am your guy.  Hit me up with questions regarding pricing and options.

Honey Bee working flowering quince in late winter.