When Roy was up at our plot recently, he climbed up into the roof-space of the bungalow to look for a tool. While up there, he became aware of a persistent hum. As his eyes adjusted to the poor light, he spied a swarm of bees hanging from the roof.
We are not sure whether this is a swarm that had settled there within the previous few days or whether it is a bee nest that has been built over a period of time.
We have now tracked down someone from nearby Heidelberg who will sell us a bee hive when we return there in November. If the bees are still there, for a fee, he has offered to drive out to our place and move the bees into the hive. If they are no longer there, we will keep the hive in readiness for "next time".
We heard that one of the new residents in the area has managed to capture 11 hives of bees for himself!
How wonderful. My husband started beekeeping when we moved out here. Now we have loads of honey and some wax for soapmaking , lip balm etc. You may like to visit the Honeybee Foundation in Maitland - they supply all sorts of beekeeping paraphernalia.
ReplyDeleteWe were initially inspired by the book "Robbing the Bees" by Holley Bishop. It's a lovely read if you can get your hands on it.
Thanks for the info. Neither of us are keen on being stung so, if we do host these bees on our land, they will probably never lost their honey!
ReplyDeleteIronically, we had a book given to us on bee-keeping years ago from some people who were emigrating when they cleared out their house. We gave it away!