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Adventures in Beekeeping
For over seven years we've had many adventures in beekeeping. One of our favorite things to do is to capture these unique moments through photography. Each live bee removal teaches and amazes us as we learn more and more about honey bees and their connection to everything. Please enjoy these images. May your hearts and minds delight in the magical world of honey bees.
Open Air Tree Bee-hive 1
One of the most lovely open air tree bee-hive removals we've encountered. It is reminiscent of a rose.
Open Air Bee-hive
This open air honey bee-hive was hanging from under a plant hanger at face level. It was quite impressive.
Honey Frame
This is a beautiful frame of Spring/Summer honey. The work that goes into maintaining bee-hives makes for very proud and grateful beekeepers.
Deconstructing Bee-hives
Mark carefully deconstructs a bee-hive located under a shed floor. The live bee removal process can be quite intense for both the beekeeper and the bees. They, of course, don't want us to disturb them.
But for safety reason, they cannot stay in that location. Much care and work is put into providing a humane bee-hive rescue and relocation
But for safety reason, they cannot stay in that location. Much care and work is put into providing a humane bee-hive rescue and relocation
Bees Under the Floor
Honey bees can and will fill out an opening big enough for them to build until their heart's content. Under a shed floor was this honey bee colony's choice of habitat.
Water Meter Bees 1
Honey bees love moving into in ground utility boxes. I suspect the ground allows them to control their temperature in our Florida heat. Unfortunately, these locations are notorious for insecticide use. Much care must be taken on our part when removing these bee-hives as sometimes even home owners aren't aware of pest control visits. It is important to avoid or to be aware of contamination for our safety as well as providing a humane non-toxic bee-hive removal.
Bees Under The House 1
All you need is a cavernous opening big enough for bees to build an adequate bee-hive inside most any structure. We have removed bees twice from this location - once in an outdoor cabinet and 2nd under the house. Some areas have more bee activity than others so we are always sure to tell the homeowners to keep an eye out from Spring to end of Fall. See next photo for a look at the hive under the house.
Bees Under the House 2
This is a nice view of what a honey bee colony can build under a house. We adore honey bee architecture but wish they would choose a more natural setting.
Framing the Comb
As we deconstruct the comb, we do our best to fix it in a frame for the bees. This helps with resources and easing into their transition for relocation. Bringing their home with them saves on tons of resources that they could otherwise use for food stores and amending their new construction. We are careful not to take diseased or contaminated comb as this could be damaging to those bees, our bees back home and our equipment.
Honey Frame 2
The second box located on top is what we call a honey super. When there is an abundance of nectar, they will build wax comb and fill it with nectar. From flower to honey stomach to wax cell involves chemical changes and processes that result in honey. One bee's life work will have produced only about a 1/2 teaspoon of honey which is all the more reason to respect, value and preserve honey bees.
Kiana's 1st Live Bee-hive Removal
Kiana, 17 years old at the time, originally led us into the world of beekeeping. As homeschoolers, we signed up for 4H Beekeeping and Gardening when she was around 10 yo. Who knew the whole family would fall in love with the world of honey bees. Kiana does a fantastic job carefully handling the bees with her Dad, Mark. They say, if you get your kids into beekeeping, they won't have any time or money to get into trouble.
Open Air Tree Bee-hive 2
This is actually the front side of the 1st open air tree hive photo. Honey bee architecture is incredible!
Owl House Bees
A honey bee hive moved into an owl house for the 2nd year in a row. They created such perfect dimensions that allowed us to lift the hive right out of the box in one piece.
Propolized Rodent Skull in Honey Bee-hive
Found in a large honey bee-hive were the remains of a large rodent skull that had been propolized. Propolis is a substance comprised of plant resins, bees wax, honey bee saliva and plant matter resulting in a sticky, antimicrobial substance often used to mummify dead/dangerous organisms within a honey bee-hive. Ultimately, it acts as a part of the immune system and defense of the bee-hive that is a super organism.
Cypress Tree Honey Bee-hive Force Abscond
In Naples FL, Cypress trees are abundant and are a popular residence for honey bees. To remove honey bees from these trees, we use smoke to push them out aka forced abscond. The larger the tree, the more cavernous inside. This can make removals difficult giving bees space to hide away from the smoke. When the smoke doesn’t work, other methods are implemented or the removal may not be possible at all. In this photo, we were successful. As the bees rush out we look for and capture the queen who draws out most of the worker bees with her pheromone. We lure them into a hive box containing waxed frames for a better start in their new home.
Honey Bee-hive Under a House
Honey bee-hives sure do love the underside of elevated homes. This often involves manufacutred homes, homes on stilts and the like. These types of homes provide open spaces often surrounded by insulation and enclosure. This is perfect for a honey bee-hive to moderate their thermoregulation averaging about 92 degrees F all year. The enclosure provides protection and better grounds for defense. This particular hive was nestled in between the floor joists above sagging insulation that had an opened liner. Due to the nature of Florida's hot and humid climate, it is very common for these materials to wear out sooner than our northern neighbors. Therefore, it is imperative to have it enclosed all the way to prevent future inhabitance of honey bees.
Mark Catches a Swarm Mid-air
We very much enjoy mingling with the bees. While working in the apiary, Mark spotted a swarm that had landed on a branch. Swarms don't stick around very long so he found the queen and caged her. Soon after, the bees took flight. With the queen caged in hand, the rest of the colony was drawn to his hand where he waited for them to find their way back to their queen. After catching them, we provide them with a hive box and frames contiaining bees wax to help them get started building their new home.
Inspecting Bee-hives After Floods
Kylene inspects a bee-hives located in a newer apiary location. We lost a lot of bee-hives due to flooding and storms that also impaired our electric fence that keeps animals out. Bears, as beautiful as they are, love eating the larvae and honey in bee-hives. To do so, they usually tear the hive boxes apart. The damages costs us thousands of dollars and wasted time and energy. Thankfully some of our bee-hives were thriving and this was a frame from one of those hives.
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