10 April 10
Swarms of Spring
Lisa over at How’s Robb reported yesterday on her adventures in joining some beekeepers who were catching a swarm in a yard in the Oakland Hills; today we got to witness the same process, but out our kitchen window. Our landlord’s son is a beekeeper with a pretty substantial operation that is partly based out of a workshop that is around back where our house is. This past few weeks he and his assistants have been extremely busy building up beehives and starting to truck them around places. When Pica got home today, she saw that there was a swarm of bees in the peach tree just north. The beekeepers didn’t take long to collect it, as shown at left.
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I never knew people collected swarms! I guess I vaguely assumed that you just got yourself a queen somewhere — a compact hive starter kit — and took it from there.
I’m so delighted to learn how many beekeepers there are in Northern California