Friday, June 02, 2006

bees

So while I was at a meeting last night, my hubby was spraying round-up around the new trees we planted and came across a swarm of bees - not a hive like we see on the house, but a swarm of so many you couldn't see the trunk of the tree. There were bees at least six inches thick on the trunk where the branches begin to grow. He called a bee keeper who came right away with a small hive box and litterally had to scoop them into the hive. She normally would pick off the queen and place her in the box and let the others follow - but there were so many she couldn't find her without removing the workers first. After she found the queen and placed her in the hive - the others litterally began marching down the tree trunk and into the hive. She told Aaron that there were between 10 and 15 THOUSAND bees. They apparantly landed there for a rest - My dad figures that when the bees were removed from the nearby orchards a week ago - some were left behind to find a new home - I'm so glad he took pictures!