The following story is one of the biggest reasons why I homestead. My kids probably would never have gotten the experience they got this week if we still lived in the city or in a suburb. I wouldn't change this lifestyle for anything!
Now it's not often that you will ever stumble upon a tree in the woods full of bees and honey. It's like something out of Winnie the Pooh.
Late last week, my boys were out playing on the farm in the forest with some friends and they came across a tree on the property with bees flying all around it. The bees were very active as it was a warm day probably in the mid 50's. That may not seem so warm but after a week of temps being in the teens and low 20's, it was a heat wave.
Excited, my boys came back to tell dad the news of a bunch of bees flying around a tree. It was doubtful that it was a hornets nest as I believe they have to rebuild their colony from scratch every year. And I have seen honey bees in trees before. It's actually quite natural and anyone who spends enough time in the woods will find them every so often.
I was busy with work and chores so we decided the next day we would go and investigate. And sure enough, my boys had found a honey tree.
As my boys peered into the hole in the middle of this dead tree, they gazed with wonderment at what they were seeing.
The hole clearly gives the tell tale sight of golden bees wax indicating that they had indeed found wild honey bees.
Getting the camera a little closer, we could make out additional details of the comb.
The temperature outside was around 30 degrees so the bees were not moving around much. I positioned the camera to see if I could get a shot with some of the bees on the comb.
I could see at least 3 different layers of comb going back into the hive. The comb up front was completely empty. But down below it looks like the entire tree was full of honey. I couldn't get a good shot of that view. It also looked like the comb extended up into the trunks of the dead tree as well.
I'm not an expert, but it looked like a well established hive.
My boys proudly standing next to their find. Everyday is an adventure on the homestead. You never know what amazing discovery will be made tomorrow!
What Next
My neighbor has a few hives over at his house and I will work with him on setting up some swarm traps around this tree this spring. Then we can move them over to some of his vacant hives.
I'm not planning on getting into bee keeping right now. It is very interesting, I just have my hands full with too many other things right now. Besides we get a lot of sweets from our cane sugar and we produce a lot of that every year. But if I can catch a couple swarms a year and get them into the hands of a productive bee keeper, it just means the land is producing something else for the homestead.
I'll keep you posted on any catches we make this year.
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