A New Endeavor is Buzzzzing
Philip has a tree company here in Florida. One of the job hazards that he experiences is bees in the trees that he is tasked to remove. This tree had a large hollow center that the bees had made their home. Philip was able to complete the job without antagonizing the bees too much and he decided to bring the hive home. A new endeavor in beekeeping was born!
Philip had considered dabbling in bees before, and since these bees literally fell in his trailer… he decided it must be time. We went to the local farm store and purchased a beehive.
Coaxing the Bees Out of the Log
Philip tried coaxing a few bees to move into the new hive moving them one at a time. However we knew as long as the queen remains in the log, so will the remainder of the hive.
Philip inquired about our hive on a few of the homesteading groups we follow. He got some good information on how to encourage the bees to move from the log to the purchased hive. Philip had fed them and they were going into the new hive, but still quite at home in the log. He was encouraged to move the pieces of the honeycomb from the log into the hive we purchased. We tried to purchase him a beekeepers suit but we were unable to find one locally. So Philip suited up in our DIY beekeepers suit best he could and moved the honeycomb.
We tasted a tiny bit of the honey from the honeycomb, it had a different flavor too it, very sweet. Other than one little piece of the comb, we left the remainder to feed the bees this winter. We will also supplement them to get them started.
Successfully Moving the Bees in the New Endeavor
They seemed to have successfully moved into the new hive, less than a dozen remain in the log after moving them.
Philip will be busy researching and learning all he can to keep our bees healthy and happy. Bees are a necessity on the homestead.
I’ve set up a new category on the blog, check out the Beekeeping tab to read more.
About the Author: Barbra-Sue Kowalski grew up on a small hobby farm. She was always drawn to farm life, however, she was stuck in an urban life far from her roots. Barbra-Sue was a single mom for 13 years, raising her 3 children on her own. She met Philip in 2018 and they married in 2021. Between the two of them, they have 5 grown children and 5 grandchildren. These empty nesters are following their dreams! As they both turn 50, they are building their off-grid homestead to live the life that they dream about. Learn more about Philip and Barbra-Sue here. Contact them here. To leave a comment on this post, please scroll down.
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