Real natural beekeeping (bee gum)

[bluegrass]

I originally was called on this colony about two years ago and it was still part of a tree at the time. The entrance was 12-14 ft off of the ground and the property owner wanted the bees removed. I left her my card and told her to call back if it ever fell down and I would come back after it.

This past January she called back and says that the tree broke and the bees were on the ground so I loaded up a chainsaw and some hardware cloth and went and picked up the gum. I temporarily tied it in an upright position to an apple tree in my yard for the winter. Well they survived the winter unaided and have been booming since the weather broke. They are on the aggressive side so after being stung twice just by walking within 15 or so foot of the colony I decided to relocate them to the back of my shed where they are less likely to bother anybody.

I decided that for now I wanted to experiment with them in the gum so I added a super to the top and we will see how it goes this summer. I may take some honey or starts off of them if the queen decides to move up into the super. It will be an interesting experiment in how resiliant they are now that I have completely changed the orientation of their comb twice in the last few months.     

[luvin honey]

Very, very cool!!

[Jahjude]

Thought's like these keeps the excitement in the beeniz  :mrgreen:

[bluegrass]

I was out in the shed doing a little wood working when I heard the unmistakable sound of a hive swarming. I went around back and watched the swarm leave the bee gum and land about 20 foot up a near by tree. I grabbed an extension ladder and a hand saw and cut them down and shook them into an empty hive. Now I have a split from the gum to use to rear some queens :-D

[KeyBeeper]

How do you move that thing?  It must weigh a ton!

[bluegrass]

Last time I moved it was in the winter before they had put up any stores. I can bear hug it and pick it up, probably only weighed 70-80 lbs.