life has been busy as usual in the hives. our new hive is strong and ever growing, even with this season's poor nectar flow::
our old hive was going strong as well. so strong it decided to split itself up and start a second colony elsewhere. my first clue was a capped queen cup::
then a few strange days like this::
they always seemed to settle back down though, so i was hopeful. until i went out to the store and big b called to tell me the bee's were acting up. i assured him that they had done that a few times before and that they would eventually chill out and that was that. when i got home the hive seemed nice and quiet. "see?" i said. i was right! then i looked up::
there was no hope of capture here, as they chose a skinny branch, 20 feet off the ground and 12 inches from a power line. after a few days they took off to whatever spot they had scouted out. i was lucky enough to see them go and it was amazing. maybe not necessarily what a beekeeper hungry for honey wants to witness, but absolutely incredible.
