Well, here it is, Spring 2011, and I have a bit of bee catching up to do. I returned from my deployment in November 2010. The swarm I had caught in May 2010 (my last blog) I gave to a friend and left the mother hive to nature. When I returned this past fall, it was already too cold to do anything but give the hive a candy board and build a three walled box for insulation to help survival. This spring I discovered I lost the hive. When I opened the hive to investigate, my best guess is that the queen had died. There were full frames of honey, and a small cluster of deceased bees.
Duty first, bees second.
The good news is that the swarm I captured last May has come back to my possession a happy healthy hive, and so we will begin this spring with them, and carry on our beekeeping adventure. It was quite a journey getting them back to my house, but that will be saved for the next blog. Until then, take a look at pictures from the hive I lost. There are lessons to be learned in everything, and I find bees fascinating even in death. I will leave you with this amazing fact, that had my bees starved to death, they would have done so together, rationing the remaining honey amongst themselves and perishing as a group. As always, amazing little creatures wise beyond their size.
