When Gabriel first started his obsession, I mean interest, in bees he noticed a cedar tree is some one’s front yard that a hive in it. He’s been thinking about that tree ever since. A couple of weeks ago Carl and Gabriel went and knocked on the person’s door to ask about the tree and the bees. The owner didn’t even know that there were bees in his tree. The house is a family house so he need to get permission from the other family members for Carl to cut down the tree. While they waited Gabriel began working on the Miller Method so he could requeen the hive. The call finally came.
So the next Friday night in the dark of night they went and wrapped the tree in wire screen mesh. On Saturday they went and cut the tree down. It took a while…the new chain saw wouldn’t work properly so a neighbor came over with his and his front loader (I know, how many neighbors have a front loader?) and helped cut the tree down and load it onto the trailer.
When they got home they began to unwrap the tree and plugged two of the holes with Great Stuff.
Then they made a mesh tunnel from the tree to the top bar hive which Gabriel had already prepared with wax and syrup to lure them in.
This is from the observation window in the hive. In the middle hole you can see a couple of bees venturing in.
This is what our other hive (#1) was doing during this time. I’ve never seen them so active. I wonder if they know we’ve added more bees – even though we have the top bar have away from the bee yard.
Gabriel got stung on one pinkie – I bet you can guess which one. His smoker went out and he was trying to relight it instead of just getting the stinger out. Next time I think he’ll get the stinger out first. He swelled up pretty good but it didn’t stay swollen as long as it did the last time he was stung.
Angi Schneider is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Preserving Vegetables and Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond, both published by Page Street Publishing. She has taught canning classes for 177 Milk Street, been featured in Serious Eats, and written for Countryside Magazine. Angi has been sharing gardening, preserving, and simple living skills since 2010.
How exciting! I can tell he loves what he does. It’s great to see him doing something as fruitful as beekeeping.
It really is fun. I love watching my kids follow their interests. They’re all different so that’s pretty cool, too.
This is so exciting and the perfect way to learn! Just think, sweet honey on warm buttered biscuits.
That had to be very exciting. I don’t know if I would have been brave enough to take on the hollow trees bees. The next time Gabriel gets stung you may want to try a holistic remidie called apis. My friend gave me some and when one of my helpers got stung I gave her the remedie and within minutes the swelling went down and she felt better. I want to keep some on hand all the time.
Thanks for the tip, we’ll have to try that. Although he’s beens stung so much that now he rarely even swells.