Capturing a wild swarm of bees and living to tell about it!

Several years ago, Sue called me to say they had a big swarm of bees in a tree right by their house and asked what to do. At the time I was no help, the next day the bees were gone. Oh if I knew then what I know now....

There are several reasons bees swarm, mostly it is because of over crowding in a hive. They get restless, take their queen and abscond the residence, searching for a better home to live and usually end up clumped in a tree somewhere.

I did a lot was reading on capturing a swarm, watched a lot of You Tube videos and decided I could do that. Last month I put an ad on Craigslist for Bee Swarm Removal, never expecting to get an answer.

I was wrong! But the guy was not very forthcoming about details and at first I thought he was just jerking my chain, sometimes you get that on Craigslist. Our email conversation:

him - I have a swarm of bees in a lilac bush in my yard.

me - Where do you live?

him - Sioux City

me - I'm going to need a few more details, address? Picture? (By this time I was pretty sure it was a farce.)

But he sent me his address and a picture of a swarm of bees in his lilac bush! Well, now this is more like it, it was too late to go then so I asked him to email me in the morning if they were still there.

They were so Bruce and I left about 7:30 in the pickup armed with the ladder, loppers, hand clippers, bee suits, smoker bucket, a large cardboard box with a screened vent in one side and duct tape. I was so excited to find the house and see the swarm for myself. Bruce was great help, getting the ladder set up and, after suiting up, he kept me in tools.

Sorry, Bruce, not the greatest picture!

Me, in full gear, ready for battle.

The swarm is about 8 ft tall, near the top of the bush, just to the right, at this point I was just hoping the bees had watched the same you tube video that I did and knew what was expected of them.

They were clustered around a main branch and extended out into small branches. So I first used the small hand clippers to sever the little branches and then used the loppers to cut the main branch. All the while I was trying to be gentle and not disturb them but they were disturbed and started buzzing and vibrating, a few flying away from the clump.

I finally had the branch separated and carried it carefully down the ladder and 'thunked' it into the box, knocking most of the bees off but hundreds started circling, dive bombing and landing on Bruce and I. Lots of bees were perched on the edge of the box, their little hineys stuck in air, vibrating, that is the signal to the bees that their queen was in the box and the rest should come, pronto.

In the video, now is the time to be patient, chill out and let the pheromones put out from the queen to all her subjects that they were to come to the box. So Bruce and I swept the bees from each other, undressed from our suits and went to have a donut. 

When we got back we found that a small clump had congregated back in the top of the bush so I went back up and cut it off, this time trimming back the small branches and placing the branch into the box. It seemed to be their security blanket.

We hung around for awhile and decided to what we had and head for home.

I used the smoker and a whisk broom, brushing the bees into the box, folding in the flaps and duct taping the openings.

Done and done! The box was loaded into the back of the pickup, braced with a bag of beef feed and the ladder, the last thing I wanted was to have the box go flying out of the back as we were tooling down the highway.

We had lots of hitchhiker bees on the box and in the back of the pickup, we made two stops on the way home and lost some bees. We saw people waving their arms around, trying to ward off the bees. One guy was standing outside the A & W watching us get in the pickup with all the bees swarming around the box, we can only imagine what he was thinking.

Back home I set of the little trap hive I made for Sue a few years ago, as a temporary home. I put a couple of bars of drawn comb and a jar of sugar water for sustenance, then untaped the box, gave it a good shake and dumped them in the open end of the hive.

I swept the bees away as I replaced the top bars, then put a board on the top bars and weighted it down with a cement block. I saw that my board was too small so later I found a bigger board and put it over the other one.

I left the box and the pickup where they were and went in the house to take a well deserved nap. When I went out later, only 3 bees were in the box and none in the pickup box and very few flying around. Most seem to have accepted their new home.

I peeked in the observation window near dusk and saw the bees clumped on the comb so took that as a very good sign. If all goes well, in a week or so I should find capped brood and then I will know it was a success.

Then I better get my butt in gear and build another hive for my growing family because Friday I pick up a package of bees to install in the other hive at the pond.

Friday morning we peeked in the hive window and everyone was nestled in and hoping they stay. When we got home yesterday, I found a package in the mail and pulled out these chicken socks.

I have no idea who sent them but thank you, I love them! I'm all dressed up, ready to hit the road for a very important test but I'm having a hard time walking without scratching the ground.

Old Horses go to heaven.....

....as do old cats.

It's a gloomy, rainy day in Iowa and fitting for the job ahead of us this morning. With the help of our wonderful, young, vet, Lisa, we ended the suffering of our two old horses, Lacey and Spider, and one old cat, Ghost who was blind and incontinent, not a good combination for a house cat.

Ghost was a feral kitten, born to a wild mother in the corn field, she was so pretty, I just had to catch her. Her name came naturally because most people never saw her, she lived upstairs and only ventured to the first floor to eat, drink and use the litter box. 

We all lived in somewhat harmony until the years took their toll, high blood pressure caused her to go blind and soon she began to have accidents in the house. Bruce was not happy when he found wet jeans that he left laying on the floor by his chair or the little 'tootsie rolls' on the kitchen rugs.

Ghost would be okay for awhile but then would start up again, I never looked into cat diapers and put off the inevitable. Because she was such a strange cat, I didn't want to take her out of her safe zone and haul her to the vet's office, upsetting her more. Instead I kept cleaning up after her and didn't tell on her.

I raised both Lacey and Spider from birth, she was 30 and he was 29 in April. This is Heather riding their mother, Missy, leading baby Lacey, in the Whiting 4th of July parade.

Lacey was the horse anyone could ride, Christine and little Sophia, are riding in the round pen in our front pasture.

Spider taught little Kaiza to ride....

....Bruce found us on a ride through the pond and took this picture. Both horses were so strong and beautiful then.

Just three years ago, when we hosted the French family from CA, Spider and Lacey proved to be trusty mounts for Ian and Annie.

But age began to take a toll on both horses, they had bad teeth that made it hard to process grain and I was fortunate to find a distributor for senior horse feed at a reasonable price. It did wonders for them both and it seemed like they would live forever. But, of course, that was not to be, they both slowly began to go downhill, ribs and hipbones jutting starkly from their now dull coats. 

Two days ago Lacey started walking in circles in her stall, banging into the walls and it was obvious something was seriously wrong. I knew that Spider wouldn't get any better either and didn't want to go through this again in another few months or so.

Nephew Brian came with his backhoe and dug a grave on the top of the hill pasture where they spent a lot of time, Lisa came and did her job with compassion and efficiency, they truly do go to sleep. 

Anytime you give your heart away, whether it is to a human or animal, you can be assured at some point it will be broken. This was a hard decision to make but I know they are at peace and out of pain and I can live with that.

I picture Lacey and Spider once again young and strong, galloping across a green pasture, as for Ghost, I hope she is back in that corn field with her other wild siblings, living the good life.

Up close and personal with the calves and racing the rain....

Most of our cows have had their calf, we have a few late ones that look like they are a long way off. Bruce came home from the farm chuckling and said I should go take some pictures of the calves and that is what I love to do.

This is one of the twins.

We have such a calm and gentle cow herd and that is passed on to their calves, so instead of running from me, they are quite curious about that black thing that sticks out of my head. All last year #35 wanted to be a mother, she stood by the gate, gazing into the cow pen.....

......and this year her dream came true with a baby of her own.

This is another future cow, next year, if all goes well, she will have a calf by her side. She is out of our coveted #1 who was the best cow we ever raised. Remember #37, she will come up later.

Don't you just love those black speckled noses?

#8 was our newest calf and we thought at first that he was blind in one eye but he seems fine now.

Wouldn't you just kill for those eyelashes??

Bruce used the wrong pen on his ear tag so we might never know for sure who is his mother.

The best seat in the house is up against the barn, out of the way, on a pile of corn stalks.

He likes to wear his ear tag funky, kind of like the kids you see wearing their baseball caps backwards.

I found the other twin in another yard...

....."Hi!"

"Hello?"

"Just what is that thing?"

And finally mother had to come over just to see what I was up to, she backed off when she discovered I was not doing any harm.

"Hey, what about me?"

"Yes, you are a cutie also."

Bruce has been racing the rain showers, both when planting corn, that is now up and growing and planting beans. Sunday he was going full speed ahead of the rain that was predicted that night. I ran back and forth to the field to help fill planter boxes, he was on the big field behind the home place and determined to get it done.

He's off!

On one of my trips through the yard I was brought to a stop when I saw the future cow #37, letting this calf suck her minuscule udder!! I have never seen this before, the calf thought he was being sneaky but I can't imagine he was getting anything. She was in 7th heaven, stood with her eyes closed.

She so wants to be a mother!!

The clouds built and Bruce planted....

....little did we know that it would be 11:30 before he finished and could come home to bed. And the rains came, we've had about 1 3/4" since then, there is still one small field to plant but that will wait for some sun and wind to dry. 

"On the 8th day, God made a farmer."

"Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!"

(You have to say that in the deep southern twang of Gomer Pyle on the Andy Griffith show to get the real effect.)

I grew up down on the river bottom where the favorite spring hobby was hunting the elusive morel mushroom along the river banks in the sand. Then I was transplanted up here, in the hills, where they still grow but I have no idea where to find them and you can be darned sure no one will tell you their favorite spots.

So imagine my great surprise today, while out mowing by the trees along our driveway and there was a morel! Standing proudly! I couldn't believe my eyes, I ran to get the camera to document this momentous occasion.

And then decided to document the entire process, I gently washed and split the morel. Then retrieved a fresh Serama egg and beat it into submission.

I carefully basted all four sides in the egg mixture....

.......and tossed them in Panko bread crumbs.

A pat of butter in the cast iron skillet...

....and fried them to a golden brown.

I didn't have to worry about sharing with Bruce, he was not brought up on morels and is suspicious of them. I thoroughly enjoyed my treat.

And that is what is important in life, enjoying the little things.

It's asparagus hunting time on the farm.

Something we can count on in the early spring are the interlopers driving the roads around here, STEALING our ditch asparagus! Well, it probably isn't really stealing because the ditches belong to no one, but when I found them in our driveway, how rude, I ran them off. So I started beating them at their own game, there are about 10 patches within 1/4 mile of our house. Easy driving with the gator and my two faithful passengers, Mollie and Murphy, riding shotgun.

I've had a bad back for a few weeks so wasn't up for running up and down ditches but had a change of mind when I found two different asparagus hunters in one day.

The first thing I always did was don long sleeves and leather gloves to clear away all the old stalks, they are vicious, with little thorny things and without the protection I came home with numerous scratches and cuts. I always used the 4-wheeler on that trip, I threw the stalks into the bottom of the ditch and ran back and forth over them to disguise the patch. That wasn't possible this year because of all the rain we've had. 

The first patch I checked was by the home place and found all the old stalks ripped out and only green asparagus stubs looking up at me. I checked the other patches and found two that the interlopers obviously over looked and brought home a nice mess for us to eat.

Gently steamed with a pat of butter, YUM, YUM!

It's also good roasted in the oven with a little olive oil or grilled, wrapped in bacon, YUM, YUM!

But then you could wrap an old tennis shoe in bacon and grill it....just sayin.......

Rosanne drove up on Friday and I had hopes that we would find some for her, although the weather has been rainy and cold, not the best growing weather for the tender green stalks.

Bruce needed some help at the cabin where he was replacing a set of windows that were rotting, with a big window out of the old house. The house is an organ donor now, the kitchen cabinets went to Carol and Tom's house in MN, the window out of the laundry room is in the MN cabin and now, this big one out of the kitchen, in the cabin at Leo's Pond. Bruce took the inside set of windows out to reduce the weight of the window, he had the old ones out and the new one in but the windows didn't want to go back in.

Rosanne, Mollie, Murphy and I, armed with a big plastic bag and a knife, checked the asparagus patches on the way, and hit pay dirt! Rosanne had a bag of spears to take home with her.

On the way down the drive way we came upon the first goose hatch of the year, both parents were trying to be very sneaky so we wouldn't see them.

On to the cabin and try to figure out the windows, we put them in, took them out, flipped them around, put them in, took them out. Removed the screws holding the frame into the opening and did some adjusting, it wasn't quite square.

After a couple hours and a trip back home to look at the windows still in the house, which was no help because they were a little different, attempting to Google '1974 Gerkin Windows', and getting no help, we finally got all three installed and vowed never to open them!

I guess I should have washed the window while I had the chance but it didn't break my heart,

Too bad, so sad!

Later Sunday afternoon:

The sun came out, I had to go revel in it so gathered the dogs, my camera, a knife and sack for asparagus and headed for the pond in the Gator. We, and I use the term loosely as the dogs just stayed in the back looking thoroughly bored and delivered huge sighs that said, "Aren't we EVER going to get there??, found a nice bunch of asparagus and finally got to the pond. It was too muddy to drive down to Leo's Pond so I cut across the path and headed back toward the bees. A goose had been sitting on the island of the second pond and I saw both parents in the water and something yellow in the nest along with eggs. I took this photo with my everyday lens.

I think I see some little baby bobbing heads......

I thought about going home and getting my big, honking lens, I drove past the bees and was excited to see some out and about. On Friday when Rosanne was here, there wasn't a bee to be seen or heard and I feared the worst.

That cheered me up so much I did go get my big lens, I was setting it up and the parents were having a cow, calling to their children. Just as I got ready to shoot, they lit out for the water.

"Sayonara, Com padres, it's every gosling for himself!"

They made it through the jungle grass.....

....some were slower than others....

....I think in all, there were 6. I have a hard time seeing the LCD screen on the camera in the sunlight so wasn't sure how they came out. And, of course, I didn't want to be too close, they say the first thing a baby goose sees when it hatches, it thinks is it's mother. All I need is 6 baby Canadian geese following me around. My sister has 3 turkeys that think she is their mother, their names are Thanksgiving, Christmas and Justin Case!

Their fate remains to be seen.