Moving In??

At 7:30 in the morning and the Y-bees are not moving around much.

Only a few of them have ventured out and none are around the super under the nuc. The sun is just coming out and they should move more when the warm rays hit the nuc.



Two hours later, some sunshine and they are moving around and maybe moving in.

There are quite a few bees around the hive opening now. Maybe they like the wooden digs with some swarm lure inside better than the open top nuc. We will have to wait and see if the queen is in the house. If she is not and the troops still stay around I will pull some brood out of the other hive to give them a start to make a new queen.

If this swarm stays ( they often leave the place you have selected for them no matter how nice you make it) that will complete my apiary. I do not have the space to keep more than two hives. As it is they are very close to the property lines on three sides. Any complaints by anyone and they will have to be moved. I will definitely be handing out some honey in the hood one of these days. I would love to set up a stall at our Farmers Market but I do not want the City fathers to know I have bees.

On that note, if you would like to help, go to this site and sign the petition to allow bees in Santa Monica. Some of the Backwards Beekeepers are trying to get that city to stop killing swarms and at least designate an area where rescued swarms can be kept until they are moved to a more friendly and useful location. At this time they just kill them and it seems the leader of Vector Control for SM is more interested in protecting his turf than helping the bees. I have no such hope for my area but things could change if we can get better bee laws in some the cities in the area. Many of California cities allow beekeeping in some form but very few in the Los Angeles area do. They keep nannering on about Killer Bees but these laws were on the books long before the term Killer Bees even showed up.

Sign up and help the bees.