It is very exciting news that our club now has a hive. After a swarm call, we reached out to the club to see if any members would be able to go and collect the swarm. Luckily, Lynn and Alexia were available on short notice and headed out.
They arrived at Parkdale Private School and Daycare to find a huge swarm high up in the tree. They attached a bucket to a pole and shook the bees into it. Once the queen was in the bucket, the rest of the bees followed her into the bucket. It was a swarm of about 16,000 bees!
They were able to get the bees into the hive that the club built and club member Lily painted during their community service project done in partnership with The Bees Knees last year. Club member Angel’s family agreed to host the hive on their property. Angel’s dad, Mr. Phil, built a special hive stand with the capability of expanding for future hives (which is already in the works – more to come!). And Angel’s mom, Ms. Sasha, and Mr. Phil have been making sugar water and feeding the bees to make sure they build up a strong hive before winter comes.
Once in their new home, the queen was marked. Since it is 2021, the current year color is White (see more about the Queen Bee color coding system here).
During the first hive inspection, club members Angel, Ashten, Lily, Mary, and Nina got to go inside and see how the new colony was doing. They were still only in one box, but were drawing out comb and definitely expanding. They would need a second box within the next two weeks. Then found the queen and she was doing good. Many of us commented how gentle and calm the bees were. The members got practice taking the frames out of the box using the frame grip and their fingers. We’ll see how they’re doing in two weeks!