July 2, 2026
A Small Open Colony (290)
Sometimes honey bees choose unusual places to live.
In this episode of Honey Bee Obscura, Jim Tew visits the property of longtime bee lab colleague Sherry to examine a remarkably small colony that has established itself completely exposed on a fallen tree branch near a blueberry and elderberry planting. The colony consists of only a few combs suspended in the open, just inches above the ground, with no cavity protection and little chance of surviving winter without intervention.
Jim and Sherry discuss how small swarms occasionally abandon their search for a suitable nesting cavity, why this colony may have settled where it did, and what would be required to transfer the bees into conventional equipment. They review traditional cut-out methods, comb transfer techniques, feeding requirements, and the challenges of helping an exposed colony survive.
Along the way, Jim explores concepts such as swarm behavior, scout bee decision-making, nest site selection, and stigmergy while considering whether this tiny colony can be given a second chance.
Will the bees remain where they are, or will they eventually be moved into a nucleus hive? Jim and Sherry share their observations and discuss what may happen next.
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Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring today's episode. Betterbee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com
We’d like to thank Vita Bee Health for supporting the podcast. Vita provides proven tools for controlling Varroa—from Apistan and Apiguard to the new VarroxSan extended-release oxalic acid strips—helping beekeepers keep stronger, healthier colonies.
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Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.
Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott
Cartoons by: John Martin (Beezwax Comics)
Copyright © 2026 by Growing Planet Media, LLC
WEBVTT
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Hi beekeepers, it's Jim, and I'm off on a beekeeping lark
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I don't do these kind of things much anymore for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is this probably is not going to be worth it, but I got some good friends who keep telling me they've got a small open
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Bee colony, it's exposed, it's outside.
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They keep asking me to come have a look at it
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So I was thinking that I'll ride over there if you want to go along and we'll have a look and see what this little hive looks like.
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I've already got two
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tiny hives in the buck in the yard that I'm going to have to watch die as the season progresses.
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I thought that if I don't need the queens for anything
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But maybe I'll combine them and try to make one hive out of them.
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If this thing appeals to me, who knows?
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Maybe I'll go back over and try to transfer it.
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to established equipment, even though the chances of it are not good.
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Not a long ride, and there's no reason for me to keep you on the line while I make a little drive over there.
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So I'll talk to you in a few minutes.
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When I get there.
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But before I go, I need to tell you that I'm Jim Tew and I come to you here about once a week at Honey Bee Obscura where I try to talk about something you do with plant.
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Welcome to Honey Bee Obscura, brought to you by Growing Planet Media, the producers of the Beekeeping Today podcast.
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Join Jew Tew, your guide through the
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Complexities, the beauty, the fun, and the challenges of managing honey bees.
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Jim hosts fun and interesting guests who take a deep dive into the intricate world of honey bees.
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Whether you're a seasoned beekeeper or just
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getting started.
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Get ready for some plain talk that'll delve into all things honey bees.
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Hey listeners, it was a short trip.
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I told you that, but I didn't want to bore you with just regular driving and being passed by high-speed motorcycles.
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So here I am.
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So I'm here with Sherry.
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Sherry worked in the bee lab.
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She was the bee Lab coordinator.
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She kept up with everything.
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She made everything happen for years and years and years.
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And now we've all retired and long gone.
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So it's
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Good to be back.
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Say hi, Sherry.
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Hi, Jim.
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I'm really glad that you're able to do this for me and let me look at the beehive
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Tell m tell me right now what I'm looking at here.
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What is this odd planting with the fence around it?
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Well, I decided uh bee uh uh
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Plant some blueberry bushes and some elderberry bushes so that I could make jam eventually or eat fresh blueberries.
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That's one of my favorite fruits.
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Well that would work very nicely and I guess the fence is to try to at least discourage the deer.
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Correct.
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I wonder if Elderberry res
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I bet it does looking at those plants.
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But listeners I don't know that for sure.
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It's got some blooms coming up on it.
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Or it's already bloomed.
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immature berries at this point.
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Okay.
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It has bloomed and the blueberries will take some bees, but they like bumblebees better.
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Well Sherry, I'm here to look at you know what.
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Yes, my swarm that showed up
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in the backyard on a tree that fell on my fence for my bo my blueberries and elderberries.
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So
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It's pretty cool.
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Well it really is cool.
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I've never seen anything like this and it's been here for quite a while.
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Let me describe it to you listeners.
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It's about
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Hardly 20 inches off the ground of where the comb is attached to the tree that's laying on the fence.
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There's only two combs
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And oh three.
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Sherry's saying three combs.
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I thought I'd looked but counted two.
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And the combs are about the size of a common baseball cap
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So I'm estimating that there's maybe three-fourths to a pound of bees there.
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They're out in the open, they're completely exposed.
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Do you know how long they've been here?
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I asked you something about that.
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It's it's kind of obscure back there.
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here but I I noticed them about a week ago maybe.
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How do you mow under them?
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They're so close to the ground.
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Is that Greg's problem?
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Well
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This part really doesn't get mowed.
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There's a lot of shade, so the grass doesn't grow that um high and plus I've got all this wild vegetation near my
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berry bushes so the grass doesn't really grow that high.
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It's a perfect bee day.
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It's a beautiful day.
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The weather's quiet and still and
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You know, I'll say that and they'll be able come straight for me, but right now they are 100% placid.
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They're coming and going.
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They're very vulnerable listeners.
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I mean they're completely exposed.
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I'm really surprised
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that a raccoon hasn't had its way with this colony.
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They could do it right from the ground without any issue at all, but yet it's still here.
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I'm surprised myself.
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I have bird feeders up front by my house and
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I see the raccoons every evening in early morning and so far the hive has been missed.
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The bees are dancing on the cone and there's some cat brood there already, so they've been there that long.
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It's a it's a succinct, functional little colony.
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It would be a really happy, healthy mating nuke for even a baby nuke or for a small four-frame nuke.
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I was talking to Sherry earlier.
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We haven't rehearsed this.
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But when I told her that the future of this is not bright, she got kind of testy with me and says she wants to try to save them.
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True
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Now that was politely put compared to what you said before.
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I won't say what I said, no.
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Well here's the irony, Sherry also has a negative reaction to bee stings and so when she was at the bee lab you couldn't really get her all that close to bees because
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She had a topical reaction that she didn't enjoy, but this is a change.
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She's we've been both been gone from the bee lab for about
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Twelve years, isn't it?
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Uh you're right, about that long.
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So I guess that's long enough.
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And plus the bees are in a perfect place back here.
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They're away from everything and
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Right across the way, maybe as the bee flies, probably a half mile is one of Ohio State's bee yards that that I established.
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I don't know how many hundreds of years ago, and then Ohio State has kept it.
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It's a very prominent scenic yard, and I'll just bet you
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that this was either a mating swarm or a small after swarm.
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I don't never have known the exact difference between an after swarm, a secondary swarm, and a mating swarm.
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I don't know why a m a new mated queen would leave with a handful of bees, but maybe they do.
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Bees have their own little brain and they
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make up their own little minds.
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Well here they are that they are it's just like looking at a puppy, listeners.
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It's cute, it's quiet, it's very photogenic.
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The combs are brilliant white
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And the chances are just excellent that they're going to die this winter, but don't let Sherry he hear that.
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It would take somebody taking these, transferring them over if the transferring process is going to be highly traumatic for them
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But you know, before we go into all that, why don't we stop and take a break and hear from our sponsor?
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Let's just ask Sherry point blank.
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By the way, I haven't mentioned this, but Sherry is Jason's mother.
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For those of you who've been listening to the series, Jason's the young beekeeper man.
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young by my standards who came over and got down the swarm that was dying and he actually did a good job saving it.
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So there is a
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There is a good bee theme throughout this family here, but they don't have any hives of their own.
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Let's just ask her point blank, listeners.
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Sherry, what do you want to do with this thing?
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I want to try to save it, g put it in a nuke, and see what it does.
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So it's it's June.
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We have until September, October before it gets too chilly.
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and I just kind of like to see what happens to it.
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Well, it looks like it's got a queen.
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That's good.
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It's eas it it would be the eas a drop of honey just fell up, or a drop of nectar
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Something spilled up.
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It would be so easy to get to it that that's not a problem.
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I I don't want to try it today.
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But it's going to take a lot of feeding.
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It's going to take constant feeding.
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But you fill bird feeders every day.
00:10:00.560 --> 00:10:03.360
Sherry's also a avid bird watcher.
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True.
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So she could probably come down and
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Ironically, I gave all my extra beekeeping equipment to my grandson, my protective gear, so I don't have that much to give you or loan you.
00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:23.240
Maybe there's something over at the bee loud that the people there now would loan you if you went over and looked sad enough.
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I could try that.
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Misters, I wonder if any of you have ever tried this.
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What what we would ultimately do?
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It's come over with empty equipment and empty frames, no foundation.
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And then we would cut out the comb with a sharp knife.
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As an aside, I could almost say that I had Jason make an antique hive knife, it was called, more than a hive tool.
00:10:52.920 --> 00:10:56.040
that was actually used to cut combs like this.
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They were inside a box or inside a scalp or inside a log hive.
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But anyway you use a knife some kind to cut the combs off
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Kind of shake the bees off into the box.
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There's gonna be a lot of bees flying.
00:11:09.860 --> 00:11:12.019
If at all possible you find the queen.
00:11:12.019 --> 00:11:14.820
I would bet you that she's on the inside combs
00:11:16.280 --> 00:11:22.680
And then we would tie those combs into the frames, depending on the size of the combs.
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It might be better to put them back together, Sherry, just like it is there, to have three empty frames.
00:11:28.520 --> 00:11:30.360
Oh, okay.
00:11:29.640 --> 00:11:35.080
and then t try to reproduce their their comb design.
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Got a mosquito after me here instead of bees.
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And we would keep their nest design just like it is here
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And then we got to feed them a fairly heavy sugar syrup.
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You just make it from granulated sugar and the hottest water you've got coming out of your tap and then keep it flowing.
00:11:51.940 --> 00:11:59.540
Don't give them too much, maybe a pint or two pints a day, not more than they can take because the syrup tends to ferment
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And then when you tie those combs in, some people have used cotton string and then the bees fret themselves over and over again for hours and hours trying to get that cotton string out
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Other beekeepers have used rubber bands, sometimes wooden slats have been used, but something to hold that comb in the correct orientation.
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So we wouldn't turn the comb sideways or anything just for a matter of convenience or cut comb placement.
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We want to put it back the same way so the comb inclination is in the same direction.
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Then you can release the queen directly into this contraption once it's done.
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And then we'd need to get it off the ground more than this.
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Sherry, it needs it.
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We wouldn't want to just set it directly on the ground because it will ultimately get the raccoons sniffing around here.
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So we'd pull it out the least bit and give it a
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Mm, give it a a some kind of mount underneath to get the box off the ground.
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And then you feed it.
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And then you feed it.
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And then you feed it.
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About how high up would you 18 inches.
00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:12.920
Okay.
00:13:12.500 --> 00:13:20.100
So it can sit on a five gallon bucket, it can sit on anything simple because it's just going to be such a tiny hive you can you can move it.
00:13:20.100 --> 00:13:21.940
But basically this is a start.
00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:25.220
I can't tell you why this little colony is here
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You've already been over the possible reasons with the small swarms, but it seems to have given up on finding a nest cavity.
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They sent out scouts when they were swarming, Sherry, and those scouts searched far and wide for a nest site.
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And number one, possibly, they didn't find a potential nest cavity.
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And number two, possibly, while they were hanging here
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It turned cold or it rained and they were stuck here.
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And then they undergo a process, a term I don't use very often called stigmergy.
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It's a word that needs more vowels
00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:16.380
And basically it's an indication that something that happens was predetermined by something that just happened before that fact.
00:14:16.380 --> 00:14:19.180
So for instance, you walk into a dark room
00:14:19.520 --> 00:14:23.840
You don't go directly to the projector or something, you turn the light on first.
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So you follow a logical sequence going into that dark room and then once the lights turned on then you go find the switches for the projector
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Start that up.
00:14:33.660 --> 00:14:40.540
So once those bees hung here for a while, they probably begin to involuntarily secrete wax
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What do you think, listeners, at some point with their collective mind, they made the decision that this was it?
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That they were just staying here.
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No turning back.
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They'd used up most of their stores.
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They had some comb going underway.
00:14:55.780 --> 00:15:05.860
I'm I'm there's no need to say it again, but most of you know what the fate of this colony would be if Sherry didn't take it on with the humanitarian effort.
00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:08.019
But the bees don't see it that way.
00:15:08.019 --> 00:15:14.899
If they can produce drones, they would still be contributing genetic stock to the pool.
00:15:15.140 --> 00:15:18.100
But I don't think that was their number one game plan.
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I'm guessing that their number one game plan was to find a cavity, fill it
00:15:23.259 --> 00:15:24.540
And then move on.
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I'm not going to touch them or bother them.
00:15:26.380 --> 00:15:31.500
I see a bee with pollen in her pollen baskets in her corbicular.
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It's just a nice, stable, remarkably small colony.
00:15:37.040 --> 00:15:41.840
Listeners, I don't know what else to say that would be descriptive.
00:15:42.160 --> 00:15:44.720
Have I left anything out that you can think of?
00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:47.040
I think you've done a great job describing it.
00:15:49.940 --> 00:16:00.020
A man with good knees to get down on the ground, but at least it's 18 inches and that really, really beats putting a ladder in the back of a pickup truck and climbing up 18 feet.
00:15:59.920 --> 00:16:06.160
trying to do some of the things we did with that freezing swarm back at my house.
00:16:06.160 --> 00:16:07.120
Alright.
00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:08.639
Sherry wants to save it.
00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:10.720
She wants to commit to it.
00:16:11.060 --> 00:16:22.180
So either I or we'll get a helper and we'll come over and we will give these bees the shock of their little lives and see if we can successfully transfer them into
00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:25.000
establish tithe.
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:28.920
If we do that, you better know that you're going to be here for it.
00:16:28.920 --> 00:16:33.240
And then as the winter, spring, summer, whatever we're doing progresses
00:16:33.880 --> 00:16:40.840
I'll make an occasional comment as to whether or not it's still here or if something went wrong with the transfer process.
00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:42.680
I will close on this note.
00:16:42.680 --> 00:16:44.200
We did this a lot
00:16:44.560 --> 00:16:56.880
In years past, we transferred bees all the time, from box hives, from gums, to get them out of the pool equipment, to get them out of equipment that didn't work, to transfer them over.
00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:59.780
to Langstroth style equipment.
00:16:59.780 --> 00:17:03.460
S this cutting comb procedure, taping
00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:09.520
Using hemp cord or whatever is an old, old process.
00:17:09.520 --> 00:17:14.800
Until we have a chance to decide what we're going to do with this, I'm going to tell you bye for now.
00:17:14.800 --> 00:17:16.480
Sherry, tell them bye.
00:17:16.560 --> 00:17:17.360
Bye.
00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.280
And we'll get back to you when we're going to go.
00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:21.160
We know what our plans are.
00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:26.520
I feel like a physician here making the life and death decision for this little colony.
00:17:26.520 --> 00:17:29.000
Well I'm excited to be able to save it.
00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:33.080
Alright, well you'd like you're just excited to be able to try to save it.
00:17:33.320 --> 00:17:33.720
Right.
00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:34.200
This will be
00:17:35.360 --> 00:17:35.920
All right.
00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.200
Goodbye, listeners.
00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:38.560
Enjoy talking to you.
00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:06.240
Hi beekeepers, it's Jim, and I'm off on a beekeeping lark
00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:20.240
I don't do these kind of things much anymore for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is this probably is not going to be worth it, but I got some good friends who keep telling me they've got a small open
00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:25.439
Bee colony, it's exposed, it's outside.
00:00:25.439 --> 00:00:28.640
They keep asking me to come have a look at it
00:00:29.140 --> 00:00:39.700
So I was thinking that I'll ride over there if you want to go along and we'll have a look and see what this little hive looks like.
00:00:39.700 --> 00:00:41.300
I've already got two
00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:49.120
tiny hives in the buck in the yard that I'm going to have to watch die as the season progresses.
00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:52.160
I thought that if I don't need the queens for anything
00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:57.440
But maybe I'll combine them and try to make one hive out of them.
00:00:57.440 --> 00:01:02.560
If this thing appeals to me, who knows?
00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:06.960
Maybe I'll go back over and try to transfer it.
00:01:07.240 --> 00:01:13.720
to established equipment, even though the chances of it are not good.
00:01:13.880 --> 00:01:20.200
Not a long ride, and there's no reason for me to keep you on the line while I make a little drive over there.
00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:21.960
So I'll talk to you in a few minutes.
00:01:22.960 --> 00:01:24.000
When I get there.
00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:36.880
But before I go, I need to tell you that I'm Jim Tew and I come to you here about once a week at Honey Bee Obscura where I try to talk about something you do with plant.
00:01:39.160 --> 00:01:49.000
Welcome to Honey Bee Obscura, brought to you by Growing Planet Media, the producers of the Beekeeping Today podcast.
00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.560
Join Jew Tew, your guide through the
00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:58.000
Complexities, the beauty, the fun, and the challenges of managing honey bees.
00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:04.800
Jim hosts fun and interesting guests who take a deep dive into the intricate world of honey bees.
00:02:04.800 --> 00:02:06.800
Whether you're a seasoned beekeeper or just
00:02:07.320 --> 00:02:08.280
getting started.
00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:13.080
Get ready for some plain talk that'll delve into all things honey bees.
00:02:13.880 --> 00:02:15.640
Hey listeners, it was a short trip.
00:02:15.640 --> 00:02:20.760
I told you that, but I didn't want to bore you with just regular driving and being passed by high-speed motorcycles.
00:02:20.760 --> 00:02:21.880
So here I am.
00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:24.660
So I'm here with Sherry.
00:02:24.660 --> 00:02:26.180
Sherry worked in the bee lab.
00:02:26.180 --> 00:02:27.780
She was the bee Lab coordinator.
00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:28.980
She kept up with everything.
00:02:28.980 --> 00:02:31.459
She made everything happen for years and years and years.
00:02:31.459 --> 00:02:33.540
And now we've all retired and long gone.
00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:34.420
So it's
00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:36.040
Good to be back.
00:02:36.040 --> 00:02:37.560
Say hi, Sherry.
00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:38.680
Hi, Jim.
00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:42.360
I'm really glad that you're able to do this for me and let me look at the beehive
00:02:42.480 --> 00:02:44.640
Tell m tell me right now what I'm looking at here.
00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:47.760
What is this odd planting with the fence around it?
00:02:47.760 --> 00:02:50.560
Well, I decided uh bee uh uh
00:02:51.420 --> 00:02:59.980
Plant some blueberry bushes and some elderberry bushes so that I could make jam eventually or eat fresh blueberries.
00:02:59.980 --> 00:03:02.060
That's one of my favorite fruits.
00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:07.280
Well that would work very nicely and I guess the fence is to try to at least discourage the deer.
00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:08.480
Correct.
00:03:08.480 --> 00:03:10.080
I wonder if Elderberry res
00:03:11.940 --> 00:03:13.620
I bet it does looking at those plants.
00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:15.300
But listeners I don't know that for sure.
00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:17.700
It's got some blooms coming up on it.
00:03:17.700 --> 00:03:18.900
Or it's already bloomed.
00:03:23.220 --> 00:03:25.299
immature berries at this point.
00:03:25.299 --> 00:03:26.019
Okay.
00:03:26.260 --> 00:03:34.099
It has bloomed and the blueberries will take some bees, but they like bumblebees better.
00:03:34.099 --> 00:03:38.660
Well Sherry, I'm here to look at you know what.
00:03:38.660 --> 00:03:41.700
Yes, my swarm that showed up
00:03:42.480 --> 00:03:51.360
in the backyard on a tree that fell on my fence for my bo my blueberries and elderberries.
00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:51.680
So
00:03:52.920 --> 00:03:54.760
It's pretty cool.
00:03:54.760 --> 00:03:56.120
Well it really is cool.
00:03:56.120 --> 00:04:00.200
I've never seen anything like this and it's been here for quite a while.
00:04:00.200 --> 00:04:01.800
Let me describe it to you listeners.
00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:02.440
It's about
00:04:02.860 --> 00:04:08.459
Hardly 20 inches off the ground of where the comb is attached to the tree that's laying on the fence.
00:04:08.459 --> 00:04:10.379
There's only two combs
00:04:11.420 --> 00:04:12.860
And oh three.
00:04:12.860 --> 00:04:14.140
Sherry's saying three combs.
00:04:14.140 --> 00:04:17.019
I thought I'd looked but counted two.
00:04:17.019 --> 00:04:22.780
And the combs are about the size of a common baseball cap
00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:29.780
So I'm estimating that there's maybe three-fourths to a pound of bees there.
00:04:29.780 --> 00:04:33.060
They're out in the open, they're completely exposed.
00:04:33.060 --> 00:04:34.660
Do you know how long they've been here?
00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:36.340
I asked you something about that.
00:04:36.340 --> 00:04:37.860
It's it's kind of obscure back there.
00:04:38.139 --> 00:04:42.300
here but I I noticed them about a week ago maybe.
00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:43.580
How do you mow under them?
00:04:43.580 --> 00:04:44.699
They're so close to the ground.
00:04:44.699 --> 00:04:46.380
Is that Greg's problem?
00:04:46.460 --> 00:04:46.940
Well
00:04:46.960 --> 00:04:48.879
This part really doesn't get mowed.
00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:58.000
There's a lot of shade, so the grass doesn't grow that um high and plus I've got all this wild vegetation near my
00:04:58.820 --> 00:05:03.780
berry bushes so the grass doesn't really grow that high.
00:05:03.780 --> 00:05:05.220
It's a perfect bee day.
00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:06.260
It's a beautiful day.
00:05:06.260 --> 00:05:08.420
The weather's quiet and still and
00:05:08.860 --> 00:05:13.980
You know, I'll say that and they'll be able come straight for me, but right now they are 100% placid.
00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:15.580
They're coming and going.
00:05:15.580 --> 00:05:17.500
They're very vulnerable listeners.
00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:19.180
I mean they're completely exposed.
00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:20.780
I'm really surprised
00:05:21.280 --> 00:05:24.479
that a raccoon hasn't had its way with this colony.
00:05:24.479 --> 00:05:30.080
They could do it right from the ground without any issue at all, but yet it's still here.
00:05:30.080 --> 00:05:31.840
I'm surprised myself.
00:05:31.840 --> 00:05:34.960
I have bird feeders up front by my house and
00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:42.360
I see the raccoons every evening in early morning and so far the hive has been missed.
00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:49.640
The bees are dancing on the cone and there's some cat brood there already, so they've been there that long.
00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:55.420
It's a it's a succinct, functional little colony.
00:05:55.740 --> 00:06:02.700
It would be a really happy, healthy mating nuke for even a baby nuke or for a small four-frame nuke.
00:06:02.620 --> 00:06:04.460
I was talking to Sherry earlier.
00:06:04.460 --> 00:06:06.699
We haven't rehearsed this.
00:06:06.699 --> 00:06:14.940
But when I told her that the future of this is not bright, she got kind of testy with me and says she wants to try to save them.
00:06:14.940 --> 00:06:15.740
True
00:06:16.300 --> 00:06:20.540
Now that was politely put compared to what you said before.
00:06:21.020 --> 00:06:22.940
I won't say what I said, no.
00:06:22.940 --> 00:06:30.699
Well here's the irony, Sherry also has a negative reaction to bee stings and so when she was at the bee lab you couldn't really get her all that close to bees because
00:06:31.599 --> 00:06:36.560
She had a topical reaction that she didn't enjoy, but this is a change.
00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:39.919
She's we've been both been gone from the bee lab for about
00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.520
Twelve years, isn't it?
00:06:41.520 --> 00:06:43.840
Uh you're right, about that long.
00:06:43.840 --> 00:06:45.280
So I guess that's long enough.
00:06:45.280 --> 00:06:47.680
And plus the bees are in a perfect place back here.
00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:49.520
They're away from everything and
00:06:50.020 --> 00:06:59.220
Right across the way, maybe as the bee flies, probably a half mile is one of Ohio State's bee yards that that I established.
00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:03.039
I don't know how many hundreds of years ago, and then Ohio State has kept it.
00:07:03.039 --> 00:07:07.039
It's a very prominent scenic yard, and I'll just bet you
00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:11.880
that this was either a mating swarm or a small after swarm.
00:07:11.880 --> 00:07:20.360
I don't never have known the exact difference between an after swarm, a secondary swarm, and a mating swarm.
00:07:20.780 --> 00:07:26.860
I don't know why a m a new mated queen would leave with a handful of bees, but maybe they do.
00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:28.940
Bees have their own little brain and they
00:07:29.320 --> 00:07:31.160
make up their own little minds.
00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:36.120
Well here they are that they are it's just like looking at a puppy, listeners.
00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:40.440
It's cute, it's quiet, it's very photogenic.
00:07:40.440 --> 00:07:42.760
The combs are brilliant white
00:07:43.540 --> 00:07:49.620
And the chances are just excellent that they're going to die this winter, but don't let Sherry he hear that.
00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:56.100
It would take somebody taking these, transferring them over if the transferring process is going to be highly traumatic for them
00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:04.080
But you know, before we go into all that, why don't we stop and take a break and hear from our sponsor?
00:08:04.080 --> 00:08:09.840
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00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:43.880
Let's just ask Sherry point blank.
00:08:43.880 --> 00:08:47.960
By the way, I haven't mentioned this, but Sherry is Jason's mother.
00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:53.160
For those of you who've been listening to the series, Jason's the young beekeeper man.
00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:59.440
young by my standards who came over and got down the swarm that was dying and he actually did a good job saving it.
00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:00.720
So there is a
00:09:01.420 --> 00:09:08.699
There is a good bee theme throughout this family here, but they don't have any hives of their own.
00:09:08.699 --> 00:09:10.779
Let's just ask her point blank, listeners.
00:09:10.779 --> 00:09:13.339
Sherry, what do you want to do with this thing?
00:09:13.300 --> 00:09:19.540
I want to try to save it, g put it in a nuke, and see what it does.
00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:21.860
So it's it's June.
00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:26.180
We have until September, October before it gets too chilly.
00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:30.680
and I just kind of like to see what happens to it.
00:09:30.680 --> 00:09:32.680
Well, it looks like it's got a queen.
00:09:32.680 --> 00:09:33.959
That's good.
00:09:33.959 --> 00:09:39.399
It's eas it it would be the eas a drop of honey just fell up, or a drop of nectar
00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:41.580
Something spilled up.
00:09:41.580 --> 00:09:45.900
It would be so easy to get to it that that's not a problem.
00:09:45.900 --> 00:09:47.340
I I don't want to try it today.
00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:56.480
But it's going to take a lot of feeding.
00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:58.720
It's going to take constant feeding.
00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:00.560
But you fill bird feeders every day.
00:10:00.560 --> 00:10:03.360
Sherry's also a avid bird watcher.
00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:04.240
True.
00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.560
So she could probably come down and
00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:17.440
Ironically, I gave all my extra beekeeping equipment to my grandson, my protective gear, so I don't have that much to give you or loan you.
00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:23.240
Maybe there's something over at the bee loud that the people there now would loan you if you went over and looked sad enough.
00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:24.920
I could try that.
00:10:25.560 --> 00:10:28.120
Misters, I wonder if any of you have ever tried this.
00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:31.960
What what we would ultimately do?
00:10:31.800 --> 00:10:37.240
It's come over with empty equipment and empty frames, no foundation.
00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:43.480
And then we would cut out the comb with a sharp knife.
00:10:43.680 --> 00:10:52.800
As an aside, I could almost say that I had Jason make an antique hive knife, it was called, more than a hive tool.
00:10:52.920 --> 00:10:56.040
that was actually used to cut combs like this.
00:10:56.040 --> 00:11:01.240
They were inside a box or inside a scalp or inside a log hive.
00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:05.160
But anyway you use a knife some kind to cut the combs off
00:11:05.860 --> 00:11:08.180
Kind of shake the bees off into the box.
00:11:08.180 --> 00:11:09.860
There's gonna be a lot of bees flying.
00:11:09.860 --> 00:11:12.019
If at all possible you find the queen.
00:11:12.019 --> 00:11:14.820
I would bet you that she's on the inside combs
00:11:16.280 --> 00:11:22.680
And then we would tie those combs into the frames, depending on the size of the combs.
00:11:22.680 --> 00:11:28.520
It might be better to put them back together, Sherry, just like it is there, to have three empty frames.
00:11:28.520 --> 00:11:30.360
Oh, okay.
00:11:29.640 --> 00:11:35.080
and then t try to reproduce their their comb design.
00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:38.520
Got a mosquito after me here instead of bees.
00:11:38.520 --> 00:11:42.040
And we would keep their nest design just like it is here
00:11:42.980 --> 00:11:45.780
And then we got to feed them a fairly heavy sugar syrup.
00:11:45.780 --> 00:11:52.180
You just make it from granulated sugar and the hottest water you've got coming out of your tap and then keep it flowing.
00:11:51.940 --> 00:11:59.540
Don't give them too much, maybe a pint or two pints a day, not more than they can take because the syrup tends to ferment
00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:12.720
And then when you tie those combs in, some people have used cotton string and then the bees fret themselves over and over again for hours and hours trying to get that cotton string out
00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:24.840
Other beekeepers have used rubber bands, sometimes wooden slats have been used, but something to hold that comb in the correct orientation.
00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:32.240
So we wouldn't turn the comb sideways or anything just for a matter of convenience or cut comb placement.
00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:37.760
We want to put it back the same way so the comb inclination is in the same direction.
00:12:38.140 --> 00:12:43.580
Then you can release the queen directly into this contraption once it's done.
00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:47.020
And then we'd need to get it off the ground more than this.
00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:47.360
Sherry, it needs it.
00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:55.360
We wouldn't want to just set it directly on the ground because it will ultimately get the raccoons sniffing around here.
00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:58.560
So we'd pull it out the least bit and give it a
00:12:59.400 --> 00:13:05.320
Mm, give it a a some kind of mount underneath to get the box off the ground.
00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:06.600
And then you feed it.
00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:07.800
And then you feed it.
00:13:07.800 --> 00:13:09.000
And then you feed it.
00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:11.960
About how high up would you 18 inches.
00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:12.920
Okay.
00:13:12.500 --> 00:13:20.100
So it can sit on a five gallon bucket, it can sit on anything simple because it's just going to be such a tiny hive you can you can move it.
00:13:20.100 --> 00:13:21.940
But basically this is a start.
00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:25.220
I can't tell you why this little colony is here
00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:35.040
You've already been over the possible reasons with the small swarms, but it seems to have given up on finding a nest cavity.
00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:43.680
They sent out scouts when they were swarming, Sherry, and those scouts searched far and wide for a nest site.
00:13:44.140 --> 00:13:50.860
And number one, possibly, they didn't find a potential nest cavity.
00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:54.300
And number two, possibly, while they were hanging here
00:13:54.640 --> 00:13:58.720
It turned cold or it rained and they were stuck here.
00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:04.800
And then they undergo a process, a term I don't use very often called stigmergy.
00:14:04.800 --> 00:14:06.960
It's a word that needs more vowels
00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:16.380
And basically it's an indication that something that happens was predetermined by something that just happened before that fact.
00:14:16.380 --> 00:14:19.180
So for instance, you walk into a dark room
00:14:19.520 --> 00:14:23.840
You don't go directly to the projector or something, you turn the light on first.
00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:32.560
So you follow a logical sequence going into that dark room and then once the lights turned on then you go find the switches for the projector
00:14:32.540 --> 00:14:33.660
Start that up.
00:14:33.660 --> 00:14:40.540
So once those bees hung here for a while, they probably begin to involuntarily secrete wax
00:14:41.140 --> 00:14:48.580
What do you think, listeners, at some point with their collective mind, they made the decision that this was it?
00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:50.180
That they were just staying here.
00:14:51.060 --> 00:14:51.940
No turning back.
00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:53.540
They'd used up most of their stores.
00:14:53.540 --> 00:14:55.780
They had some comb going underway.
00:14:55.780 --> 00:15:05.860
I'm I'm there's no need to say it again, but most of you know what the fate of this colony would be if Sherry didn't take it on with the humanitarian effort.
00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:08.019
But the bees don't see it that way.
00:15:08.019 --> 00:15:14.899
If they can produce drones, they would still be contributing genetic stock to the pool.
00:15:15.140 --> 00:15:18.100
But I don't think that was their number one game plan.
00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:23.140
I'm guessing that their number one game plan was to find a cavity, fill it
00:15:23.259 --> 00:15:24.540
And then move on.
00:15:24.540 --> 00:15:26.380
I'm not going to touch them or bother them.
00:15:26.380 --> 00:15:31.500
I see a bee with pollen in her pollen baskets in her corbicular.
00:15:31.760 --> 00:15:37.040
It's just a nice, stable, remarkably small colony.
00:15:37.040 --> 00:15:41.840
Listeners, I don't know what else to say that would be descriptive.
00:15:42.160 --> 00:15:44.720
Have I left anything out that you can think of?
00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:47.040
I think you've done a great job describing it.
00:15:49.940 --> 00:16:00.020
A man with good knees to get down on the ground, but at least it's 18 inches and that really, really beats putting a ladder in the back of a pickup truck and climbing up 18 feet.
00:15:59.920 --> 00:16:06.160
trying to do some of the things we did with that freezing swarm back at my house.
00:16:06.160 --> 00:16:07.120
Alright.
00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:08.639
Sherry wants to save it.
00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:10.720
She wants to commit to it.
00:16:11.060 --> 00:16:22.180
So either I or we'll get a helper and we'll come over and we will give these bees the shock of their little lives and see if we can successfully transfer them into
00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:25.000
establish tithe.
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:28.920
If we do that, you better know that you're going to be here for it.
00:16:28.920 --> 00:16:33.240
And then as the winter, spring, summer, whatever we're doing progresses
00:16:33.880 --> 00:16:40.840
I'll make an occasional comment as to whether or not it's still here or if something went wrong with the transfer process.
00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:42.680
I will close on this note.
00:16:42.680 --> 00:16:44.200
We did this a lot
00:16:44.560 --> 00:16:56.880
In years past, we transferred bees all the time, from box hives, from gums, to get them out of the pool equipment, to get them out of equipment that didn't work, to transfer them over.
00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:59.780
to Langstroth style equipment.
00:16:59.780 --> 00:17:03.460
S this cutting comb procedure, taping
00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:09.520
Using hemp cord or whatever is an old, old process.
00:17:09.520 --> 00:17:14.800
Until we have a chance to decide what we're going to do with this, I'm going to tell you bye for now.
00:17:14.800 --> 00:17:16.480
Sherry, tell them bye.
00:17:16.560 --> 00:17:17.360
Bye.
00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.280
And we'll get back to you when we're going to go.
00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:21.160
We know what our plans are.
00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:26.520
I feel like a physician here making the life and death decision for this little colony.
00:17:26.520 --> 00:17:29.000
Well I'm excited to be able to save it.
00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:33.080
Alright, well you'd like you're just excited to be able to try to save it.
00:17:33.320 --> 00:17:33.720
Right.
00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:34.200
This will be
00:17:35.360 --> 00:17:35.920
All right.
00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.200
Goodbye, listeners.
00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:38.560
Enjoy talking to you.