RUG HOOKING BLOG

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I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

BEE KEEPING ANYONE?

Yesterday's blog posting from my dear friend Kim, from the blog My Field of Dreams,  reminded  me of the swarming of bees that gathered in a tree in front of our house last year.

It looks very small here but it was a huge swarm  of bees. They were also all over my cherry tree in front of the house too and very noisy. They were everywhere. If you click on the photo you can see them on the branches too.

My son was walking on the road in front of our house and came in to ask me if I knew the source of the noise.  I came out and I could see a cloud of bees flying into this very tall tree by the river bank. I ran inside to get my little Fuji  camera. I definitely need  a stronger zoom lens to get a better shot. Maybe it's time to purchase that big zoom lens for my new Canon camera.

We called a local bee keeper and he said that they were not his bees. In a while they all flew away, thank goodness. I'm not very fond of getting stung although I get stung by yellow jackets at least once every two years. Yikes, I'm due for a sting...

Kim is such a  brave girl that she tackled her bees when hers swarmed, but she did got stung.

10 comments:

  1. That is so funny, and they are really something to see when they swarm. When I was young, my Mom was a beekeeper. People called her and we would go get bees like that out of trees and all of the strangest places. Most the time it was really easy and quick. Seeing how high they are in your tree would have been harder and today people would just saw off the branch. My Mom didn't she would just take a ladder and get the swarm that way. She was always to concerned about the new young queen.
    That is why if she was still alive and she read the post I wrote, oh would I have been in trouble. :) I did every thing wrong and I knew better. Working with her I never got stung.
    I am glad you shared a picture.

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  2. Hi Julia! I haven't been on in a while - just checking RHD. Wow! You've been busy! That swarm of bees is something! I hope you're feeling better soon!

    Char

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  3. I'm afraid of bees too, but the are beneficial to pollinate our fruits and vegetables. JB

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  4. Swarming bees are not my favorite thing. I had a hive stop at my tree swarm for the whole day and leave near the end of the day. Boy I was glad when they left. Cheri

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  5. My biggest fear working out here on this ole place is hidden bee hives. I would probably have a heart attach if they chased me.
    Great story and pictures
    Love ya
    Maggie

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  6. I have never seen a swarm like that before! I would have been trembling in my boots, lol!

    I just happened to read this post from you yesterday and then came across this just now when I was looking up info about local honey I purchased yesterday:

    "Honeybee swarms can be troubling for homeowners, but for beekeepers, they're the fodder for new hives.

    A swarm occurs in spring when a queen leaves the hive as her successor is being produced, taking a good portion of the workers with her. The new colony finds a place to light temporarily and clusters there — often in a tree or bush — while some of its members scout for a permanent home.

    Usually the swarm moves to its new hive in a day or two.

    A swarm is typically about the size of a football and is a group of bees clinging together, without any nest, beekeeper John Irvine of Cuyahoga Falls explained.

    If you have a swarm in your yard, call a beekeeper immediately, Irvine said. Beekeepers want to collect the swarm quickly, before the bees become hungry and aggressive or move to their new home."

    So the beekeeper didn't want the bees?

    By the way, your grandson is looking so handsome! Love those smiles!

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  7. Mamoo, you said the bees were in your cherry tree but you don't have a cherry tree, they look kind of like cherries but they are actually a kind of crab apple. Haven't you tasted them ?

    -Mira

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  8. Anonymous, you are very right, I have a crabapple tree and not a cherry tree. My honest mistake. Thanks for pointing it out to me Mira and thank you for identifying yourself and thanks for reading my blog.

    No Mira, I never even bother to taste those tiny little crabapples off my trees but I tasted some from someone else's tree and they were bitter.

    At my age I make many, many mistakes.

    Mamoo... JB

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