9. Bee Flat

31st October 2013

Bee Flat

It really wasn't the same without our busy bee workers. I missed their happy buzzing, I even missed them getting tangled in my hair as I watered the orchard.

So in an attempt to cheer me up Jamie announced he was 'going in'. Into his friends garage that is, where a swarm of bees had made their home inside an old speaker. They had been happily converting the speaker into their dream home for about two years and relocating them was going to be a hard task.

Jamie's first trip was a recon mission. He went to check out the hive and type and temperament of the bees. Finding them to be a laid-back bunch of Golden Italian Honey Bees was good news for us, as they would be ideal candidates to restart our apiary. 

With this happy news we began planning Phase 1 of the relocation.

The speaker was just buzzing! Photo taken 30th October 2013 as we were getting ready to dismantle it. 

Phase 1 Moving Day (or night to be more precise)

Almost a year to the day that our first swarm moved in, Jamie brought home the speaker containing 'Bee Flat' wrapped in a hessian sack and taped shut for extra measure. As the light was fading fast we decided to simply put their speaker into position and stack empty supers around it with one frame filled box on top. 

Jamie was the first to point out that the name 'Bee Flat' could have a double meaning - it not only had a musical reference but also described the initial 'block-of-flats' appearance of the hive. Photo taken 30th October 2013.

 We crossed our fingers and hoped that over the next week the colony would move into the nice frame filled top box and that we could then begin Phase 2 of the relocation process - dismantling the speaker. 

Phase 2 The Demolition

Life however is not meant to be easy and when we opened the hive a week later, the bees were still all inside their speaker.

So resigned to the job ahead, Jamie carefully sawed off the chipboard top and sides of the speaker box, while I brushed the bees off and put the old speakers components into a black garbage bag.

Demolition time.Photo taken 30th October 2013

Left with an intricately constructed block of wax brood and honeycomb, we carefully broke this into pieces which we placed in the bottom of the bees new accommodation. The danger here was that the queen would be crushed or killed during this process and then the whole colony could just up and leave, or die out. The final part of this phase was placing the top box loaded with frames back into position.

By the end of our efforts, old brood wax lay scattered around amid pieces of broken honeycomb. Red honey was oozing out of the entrance of the hive (now four stories high) and I couldn't help but feel sorry for the bees - years of their hard work lay in ruins.

Watching the bees during this phase was however fascinating. Initially the bees were all focused on rescuing and cleaning up individuals who had honey or sand stuck to them. It really was quite touching to see - here is a creature that is the total embodiment of teamwork.

At present the bees efforts are concentrated on cleaning up the hive and surrounding area after what was probably the bee equivalent of a natural disaster for us. The 'looters' in this case are the robber bees (bees from other nearby hives who collect as much of the exposed honey or wax as they can find and take it back to their own colony).

It will be an anxious couple of days for Jamie and I as we wait and see if the colony settle into their new accommodation.