We had a first in our beekeeper careers.  We helped rescue a wild hive that was setup in someone’s shed.  Lots of mistakes were made and a considerable amount of improvising occurred.  Here is the scene, a shed next to someone’s house has a very active hive coming and going from the corner.

It was hard to get a picture of, but there were a few bees coming and going every second.  This was obviously a big active hive.  A bit of work on the outside panels led us to thinking that they were probably setup under the floor.  A stethoscope would be helpful next time.  We did some cutting between the joists and came up with this chunk of floor.

Lots of slow careful work got all the comb out and into a medium box.  We should have brought a bigger boat!

This was the only box I had spare, so it will have to do.  In addition we did a lot of really careful vacuuming with a shop vac.  We were able to grab thousands of bees this way, and they all seem to have survived the encounter.  This hive was found by our friend Willow, and it is going to live in her yard.  She has a thing for hot pink.  Good luck in your new home bees!

Bonus Farm Tour

I got to start the bee rescue day off with a short lecture to the Melbourne Village  community garden about beekeeping.  They were very interested in beekeeping, but had a lot of questions.  After a bit of chatting they are on board and are looking into doing a few hives as a community.

After the rescue we were invited to one of the garden member’s backyard.  We got to see chickens and sheep and goats oh my!

The best part of it all was the dozen eggs I got as thanks from this backyard farm for giving my little bee talk.  Fellow beekeepers should seek out local community gardens.  They would probably be interested in hearing about beekeeping as a matter of interest if nothing else.  Some might be into it enough to start their own community bee hive!  Seriously though, check out these eggs!