Flying the Coop Bee Emergency – Miller Farm Day

By |2013-01-04T06:48:27-06:00January 4th, 2013|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday, Uncategorized|3 Comments

On a recent Monday (my day to go grocery shopping and do laundry among other things), I added poinsettia delivery to my errand list.

Several people at various schools bought the holiday plant from our kids for a band fundraiser and they came in on Friday. Our living room was quite festive with sixteen poinsettia plants in it.
poinsettia-group

I took six to an elementary school before grocery shopping.

I can now add floral delivery person to the list of jobs I do not want to do full time.

When I returned home on that afternoon, I noticed bees gathered on the edge of a pot on the back porch. It was strange so I took a picture with my phone and sent it to Beekeeper Brian asking what he thought. He had no idea.

I loaded up more poinsettias and headed to the middle school. On my route, I passed Beekeeper Brian, headed for the house. My first thought was “he’s going to check on his bees.”

But when I got home after my poinsettia deliveries, he was in full beekeeper garb, standing at the stove with a glass measuring bowl full of a lemony smelling liquid. He then said the words which always signal the beginning of an adventure – “I need your help.”

He needed to know how hot the liquid was. I went into bread making mode and thought about how hot water for softening yeast needed to be. After a quick finger test, I assured him the water was not more than 100 degrees.

He then carried the liquid outside. As it turns out, the bees were making a small swarm which means they were preparing to “fly the coop.”

Oops, that would be the chickens who do that. I’m not sure what it’s called when bees leave.

Beekeeper Brian then put the queen from the swarm in a nuc (small hive box) and put feed (the lemony smelling liquid) on top. He’s watching to see if the worker bees go into the nuke with the queen.

bee bucket

Meanwhile, he’s thinking of alternate plans to entice the bees to hang around. This could mean another hive and more honey!

There is never a dull moment around here.

Life on the farm is certainly full of adventure with all the elements of storytelling: Goal, Motivation , and Conflict.

YOUR TURN: Any dull moments in your world?