Do you have any hobbies? This year I decided that beekeeping was going to be my new hobby, and so far, I absolutely love it. In the early spring, I attended an eight week course in beekeeping with the Worcester County Beekeeping Association (the oldest beekeeping club in America!) I highly recommend that anyone interested in beekeeping take a course. It's a lot to take on without any prior knowledge. The minute you open your package, there are 10,000 little lives in your hands!! I hope to be able to share a lot of info and insight into beekeeping as I go, but if you are interested in beekeeping yourself, PLEASE do other research as well.
Today, I'm sharing some photos of us capturing a swarm! Now, what is a swarm? I'll tell you! When a hive feels crowded (basically the queen doesn't have enough space to lay more eggs), they will grow a new queen and that new queen along with half of the hive will leave to find another place to build a hive. Once they leave the hive they all cluster around the queen high up and send out a handful of scouts to look for suitable hives. It is when they are all clustered together in this swarm, that they are incredibly safe to handle because they no longer have a hive that they are protecting. This is also when it is possible to capture an entire new hive of bees #FREEBEES!!
There is so much more info, but I don't like to get too wordy in these blogposts. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I'm hoping to be able to edit together some video I took as well, but for now enjoy the pictures from the day!