Natural Colony of Italian Honey Bees on Tingsgrove~

 

 

 

I just love when things happen that you never ever would have anticipated, and it turns out to be something really wonderful...

Who does not adore honey?

I love, love, love this miracle food. I can eat spoons full, or dollops on biscuits, scones and tea cakes. I enjoy my cold weather hot Lavender tea, with a nice heaping spoonful of this golden sweetness.

Never in a million years, and after living on this 2 acres, would I have even dreamed that I would have my very own Tingsgrove natural Italian Honey Bee colony, but, alas...I do;')

Last week, my husby had taken our pup-cub Meaka for a walk over on our second acre. She had tugged him in the direction of a tree that I knew well.

A few years ago, an Opossum, must have been hit by an automobile and then died in the hole near the base of the tree trunk.

Bill said that she went straight to that tree and stuck her face into the hole and that there were a bunch of bees inside, but that fortunately Meaka, nor he had been stung.

We have had our share of many stings from Yellow Jackets in the past, and I was puzzled, about the fact that they had not stung her especially.

I went to take a look-see, sure enough, there were a lot of bees of some kind. I took a couple of images and brought them back to the house and googled, both Honey Bees and Yellow Jackets. I could see a bit of hairy parts and that gave me hope and yet I was still not certain.

Facebook to the rescue.

I wrote a message on my status, that I was looking for someone local who may know a beekeeper. Only a few minutes later, I was put in contact with a friend's wife, who had her own hive. They would come by and take a look.

It only took Melanie and Kevin seconds to determine that what I did not have were Yellow Jackets...a great sigh of relief and what I did have was a nice size colony of Italian Honey Bees, the most docile of the Honey Bees around here.

We were elated that they had chosen Tingsgrove to make this hive.

Now I knew where all of the bees that had been visiting my Hummingbird feeders and birdbath had been coming from all summer. Melanie and Kevin shared some great information with me. The bees travel 3 miles to bring back nectar and water to the hive. They maintain a temperature within the hive of 92' all year round.

Today, we had a very hard rain, which we needed, but due to the position of the hive, many bees perished. The survivors are working hard to fix up the mess that was made. I really want to try to preserve this hive, if at all possible and will make every possible effort to do so. More to come later then.

 

*Special thanks to Kevin, Melanie and their son Doug for their friendship and thier expert help...

I really appreciate it~

 

Also in this post are many of the flowers on and around the grove, that produce sweet nectar for the bees and more. 

I have also added in a series of Bearded Robber Flies, which happen to eat Honey Bees, as you can see in some of the images, and I have also tucked in a couple of juvie

Ruby-throated Hummingbird images, just because it was so darn cute!

For those in the USA...Happy Labor Day.

For all... Happy Monday, Happy week, may it be a blessing for all~

I am linking up with Mary for:
"Mosaic Monday"
at:http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/