I am living in Ava Missouri, near the center of town and the bee tree is less than 50 yard from my back door.
It was about 3 years ago that I saw the first swarm come out of this tree and not knowing anything about bees I called a beekeeper to come and get them. I just happened to be home when he showed up to catch the swarm and it intrigued me so I stood around and watched. probably a little closer that the beekeeper would have preferred but as he was not wearing protective clothing I did not seem to think it would make any difference if I was not in protective clothing either. It was then that I decided if I ever got the opportunity to catch a swarm I would not be calling another beekeeper to come to the rescue.
April 30, 2019 I caught my first swarm, so I am very new to keeping bees, I caught my second swarm on May 12, from the same tree that is very close to my home. No one has taken care of these bees and I contend that they are treatment free. Even though I have not enjoyed any of the fruits of the bees labor in the past, the two swarms that I have caught are now in hives, Number 1 is in a deep Langstroth box with two medium supers all for brood, and Number 2 is in two Langstroth deeps for the brood. And I suppose that if it is treatment I did feed sugar water 1:1 for about a month, just to give them a head start on building comb, I did add another medium super an quit feeding. I intend to at least work toward being treatment free, and also using foundationless frames.
I suppose that it is safe to call these the Lords bees as I have the hive set up near the country church that I attend. If I can manage to keep them over winter I intend to share honey with the church next year. If there is any extra to sell that will be just wonderful. I intend to make it a fundraiser for any ministry that the church may choose to use it for. Just to let it make sense to everyone my user name here is Happy Home which is also the name of the church that I attend.
I have been doing a lot of studying and reading on forums and bee keeping websites, and doing my best to let the feral bees just do their own thing. I will be needing to open the top of the hive to see real soon how they are doing with filling that one super that I have put on each hive, since I have stopped giving sugar water.
So I guess I am a treatment free beekeeper, for the past 14 years that just has all of three months experience with bees.
A real learning experience, that I am enjoying beyond my wildest expectations.
Happy Home
It was about 3 years ago that I saw the first swarm come out of this tree and not knowing anything about bees I called a beekeeper to come and get them. I just happened to be home when he showed up to catch the swarm and it intrigued me so I stood around and watched. probably a little closer that the beekeeper would have preferred but as he was not wearing protective clothing I did not seem to think it would make any difference if I was not in protective clothing either. It was then that I decided if I ever got the opportunity to catch a swarm I would not be calling another beekeeper to come to the rescue.
April 30, 2019 I caught my first swarm, so I am very new to keeping bees, I caught my second swarm on May 12, from the same tree that is very close to my home. No one has taken care of these bees and I contend that they are treatment free. Even though I have not enjoyed any of the fruits of the bees labor in the past, the two swarms that I have caught are now in hives, Number 1 is in a deep Langstroth box with two medium supers all for brood, and Number 2 is in two Langstroth deeps for the brood. And I suppose that if it is treatment I did feed sugar water 1:1 for about a month, just to give them a head start on building comb, I did add another medium super an quit feeding. I intend to at least work toward being treatment free, and also using foundationless frames.
I suppose that it is safe to call these the Lords bees as I have the hive set up near the country church that I attend. If I can manage to keep them over winter I intend to share honey with the church next year. If there is any extra to sell that will be just wonderful. I intend to make it a fundraiser for any ministry that the church may choose to use it for. Just to let it make sense to everyone my user name here is Happy Home which is also the name of the church that I attend.
I have been doing a lot of studying and reading on forums and bee keeping websites, and doing my best to let the feral bees just do their own thing. I will be needing to open the top of the hive to see real soon how they are doing with filling that one super that I have put on each hive, since I have stopped giving sugar water.
So I guess I am a treatment free beekeeper, for the past 14 years that just has all of three months experience with bees.
A real learning experience, that I am enjoying beyond my wildest expectations.
Happy Home