May 24, 2014

The Bee News and the Bear News

The Bee news is that a swarm of honeybees has moved into one of my vacant hives at the farm!  I'm really excited about this because I lost both of my established hives over the winter.  Since I had not had time to purchase and install packages this spring I was planning to clean out the boxes and seal them up for the season over Memorial Day weekend.  Yesterday our employee was out mowing the field and noticed the bees in the hive.  Yay!  I will be cleaning out the other hive but just might leave a small opening in case another swarm passes through.

 
The Bear news is that we had visitors of the furry black variety in our yard last night.  They had a heyday knocking over, bending, and yanking on the bird feeder stations and the trash cans.  We recovered a few of the feeders in our neighbors yard but the hoodlums done runned off with the rest!  I normally refill the feeders on Saturdays so they didn't get much food for their efforts.   We live in a housing development but are just across the street from a powerline greenbelt that connects to a protected watershed as well as other large open spaces.  So bears are not an uncommon thing in our neighborhood although this is the first time they have caused any trouble for us.  Guess I better lay low on the bird feeding for awhile so they don't come back for seconds!  The birds are flying around in a confused dither this morning trying to figure out where the feeders have gone....I hope they know their human friends are wondering the same thing!
 
 
 
 
 
I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend and please don't forget to take the time to honor all  the heros and veterans who have helped make this country the home of the free.