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I live near Delaney Farm about 3/4's of a mile north of there in the neighborhood Chamber Heights, in Aurora, Colorado. Delaney Farm is one of Aurora's older open spaces that's been around for a few decades. It was my first encounter with honey bee hives up close. I had ski toured through the area about 15-20 years ago and wonder what a pile of wooden boxes were doing in a middle of the field and once I got close, realized they were honey bees. It was a bright sun shiny day, barely above freezing, and yet there were bees out and about flying. There were a few that had died, maybe having ventured too far from the hives and the suns heat had caused them to sink into the snow. I marveled that they were out at all being it was still winter. I thought honey bees would be just the ticket to have around when my plum trees bloom so early in the spring, there's nothing around to pollinate them.
So fast forward a few years to the present. After that encounter, I made a box like I saw in the field with a little porch for them to land on and put it in my garden. Every year wasp would come and set up in my box, and the following winter I'd knock out the nest and try again next year. One year I tried putting honey in the box to see if that would attract some bees, but instead I got ants that made a steady path to the box until the honey was gone and then as usual, the wasp. Last year I came across something I read, on a way to attract honey bees was with beeswax. A dental technician friend of mine used beeswax for making molds, and gave me 5 lbs to give it a try. I melted it and pour it into one side of my box about 3/4 of an inch thick. I then heated up a hex wrench I thought was about the size of bees, and made a bunch of wholes in the wax that had set up. Early in June for the first time, I saw something what looked like a honey bee, but appeared darker than usual, go into the hive. Wasp were also going into the hive. When it came out, I observed how the phrase beeline was coined. This bee, took off at warp speed in a straight direction to the North. Shortly he was back with about 3 more bees that looked just like him. It seemed that they were protecting the box from the wasp that were continually arriving. This went on for a few days. On June 11th was an event. I was mowing my lawn in the front yard and went around to the back to begin the back yard. When I noticed they're were regular honey bees going in and out of the hive. I was thinking wow they've arrived. As I began to mow my backyard, I was pushing my reel mower along when a bee flew in front of my face, I looked up and the air was full of bees, there had to bee at least a thousand flying about, and I looked at my box and it was now covered with bees. I ran inside and grabbed my camcorder and recorded the event.
So I enjoyed watching my bees, going in and out of the hive, but they weren't staying in my yard. I had sun flowers, zinnias, cosmos, raspberries, hollyhocks all in bloom, but every day they'd leave the hive ignoring my plants and fly off in a southwest direction and returning the same to the hive. The bees that were pollinating my plants and still are, were primarily little fuzzy bumble bees, yellow with an orange stripe.
On August 4th something terrible happened. I checked the hive about 8 in the morning and everything appeared normal, bees were coming and going to and from the southwest as usual. At 2 in the afternoon that day, I checked the hive and there was a baseball sized mound of dead bees on the landing. The bees coming back from the southwest were looking sick, some didn't even hit the landing, reminded me of old world war II movies with wounded corsairs trying to land on a aircraft carrier. After that fateful Wednesday a few bees still lingered for a couple days, very lethargic, but by next Wednesday they were all dead.
So now I have no bees. It's pretty obvious to me someone sprayed the area they were at, maybe even directly on them while they were there and the stuff they used, whatever it was, lethal enough to be brought back to the hive and kill the rest of the bees. I'm thinking now my box is so contaminated I probably ought to destroy it before it kills anymore bees. Then there is the who, a person or a company that did this and what's to stop them from doing it again. I don't see any hope for the honey bee right now or for me to have a hive in my present location. I worry about the bees out there on Delaney's Farm, they certainly are in range of this killing field. I read that bees can range up to 5 miles, if that's the case, no honey bee in a city is safe.
Mike Sumrall
So fast forward a few years to the present. After that encounter, I made a box like I saw in the field with a little porch for them to land on and put it in my garden. Every year wasp would come and set up in my box, and the following winter I'd knock out the nest and try again next year. One year I tried putting honey in the box to see if that would attract some bees, but instead I got ants that made a steady path to the box until the honey was gone and then as usual, the wasp. Last year I came across something I read, on a way to attract honey bees was with beeswax. A dental technician friend of mine used beeswax for making molds, and gave me 5 lbs to give it a try. I melted it and pour it into one side of my box about 3/4 of an inch thick. I then heated up a hex wrench I thought was about the size of bees, and made a bunch of wholes in the wax that had set up. Early in June for the first time, I saw something what looked like a honey bee, but appeared darker than usual, go into the hive. Wasp were also going into the hive. When it came out, I observed how the phrase beeline was coined. This bee, took off at warp speed in a straight direction to the North. Shortly he was back with about 3 more bees that looked just like him. It seemed that they were protecting the box from the wasp that were continually arriving. This went on for a few days. On June 11th was an event. I was mowing my lawn in the front yard and went around to the back to begin the back yard. When I noticed they're were regular honey bees going in and out of the hive. I was thinking wow they've arrived. As I began to mow my backyard, I was pushing my reel mower along when a bee flew in front of my face, I looked up and the air was full of bees, there had to bee at least a thousand flying about, and I looked at my box and it was now covered with bees. I ran inside and grabbed my camcorder and recorded the event.
So I enjoyed watching my bees, going in and out of the hive, but they weren't staying in my yard. I had sun flowers, zinnias, cosmos, raspberries, hollyhocks all in bloom, but every day they'd leave the hive ignoring my plants and fly off in a southwest direction and returning the same to the hive. The bees that were pollinating my plants and still are, were primarily little fuzzy bumble bees, yellow with an orange stripe.
On August 4th something terrible happened. I checked the hive about 8 in the morning and everything appeared normal, bees were coming and going to and from the southwest as usual. At 2 in the afternoon that day, I checked the hive and there was a baseball sized mound of dead bees on the landing. The bees coming back from the southwest were looking sick, some didn't even hit the landing, reminded me of old world war II movies with wounded corsairs trying to land on a aircraft carrier. After that fateful Wednesday a few bees still lingered for a couple days, very lethargic, but by next Wednesday they were all dead.
So now I have no bees. It's pretty obvious to me someone sprayed the area they were at, maybe even directly on them while they were there and the stuff they used, whatever it was, lethal enough to be brought back to the hive and kill the rest of the bees. I'm thinking now my box is so contaminated I probably ought to destroy it before it kills anymore bees. Then there is the who, a person or a company that did this and what's to stop them from doing it again. I don't see any hope for the honey bee right now or for me to have a hive in my present location. I worry about the bees out there on Delaney's Farm, they certainly are in range of this killing field. I read that bees can range up to 5 miles, if that's the case, no honey bee in a city is safe.
Mike Sumrall
. I think there is a beekeeping club in Ft. Collins, check with the members and you may beable to get a Nuc or starter hive next spring.Good Luck Jim
