Bee Happiness by Mary (spring 2013)
The drought was bad last summer and fall, so we didn't harvest any of the bee's honey, and hoped they were able to store enough nectar from our trees and gardens to survive the winter. We've read that bees often die in the late winter/early spring because they run out of food before it becomes available again. Bee keepers check and give a supplement if needed. Well, we didn't check. We didn't do anything for them but hope. Then spring came even later than usual.
We first noticed the sound. It was quite a loud roar of buzzing bees as they attacked a good sized section of small purple flowers. How happy we were to know the bees not only survived the long winter, but also loved these little flowers. Every time I wanted to plant an early blooming bush or flower which bees like, I also remembered the deer would probably eat it first. But here were patches of these short wildflowers blooming in several places. What a relief it was to know the bees were being well fed until the dandelions begin to bloom.
On a return trip three weeks later, we were checking our strawberry and asparagus bed, and heard the buzzing again. Yea! The bees also love gooseberry bushes! They were all over them!
Our happiness didn't last long. I had brought out some sacks of used coffee grounds to dump around the bee hive to keep out the ants. I discovered the hive was silent. Not a bee in sight. They evidently swarmed. We see them on our farm, but we don't know where they have taken up residence. Todd thinks it is neat that we have bees living in the wild and we can also restock the hive, but I feel a little divorced! At least we don't have to buy expensive new equipment again, just order some new bees.
Now to read up on why bees swarm and how to keep it from happening again. So far, I'm guessing they produced too many young, and outgrew their hive.
