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Mom's Bees
Apr. 22nd, 2012 05:53 pmSo, my mom gave away a colony of bees this weekend. For the past two summers she's had this nest of honeybees living in the wall beside the chimney. They've been gradually getting bigger, and it was obvious something would eventually have to be done, as much as we disliked the idea of having them exterminated.
The other day the guy was out to read the gas metre, and he was all like "Hey, can I have those bees?", which isn't a question one hears very often. It turns out he's a beekeeper, though, and bees are costly. A three pound box of regular bees* retails for about $150, and a queen to go with them is another $50 or so. I've lived half a century, and never even considered the idea that there might be a retail price for bees, or that you can buy them boxed.
Anyway, he came out today in his bee armour, removed part of the siding, smoked them, sucked them up with a special bee vacuum, then spread borax inside (to repel ants, who will apparently move in after bees have left otherwise) and fixed the siding and plugged up the crack. Everyone came out ahead - he got free bees, my mom got a free bee removal service, and the bees got a new home with someone who'll look after them.
*about 10k bees, an average colony
*****
Was anyone else struck by how very British the Equestrian dress uniforms looked? Shining Armor wore scarlet with white and gold; and there were some Pegasus Guards briefly in the background wearing dark blue with scarlet. One couldn't help but think of HM's Household Cavalry.
The other day the guy was out to read the gas metre, and he was all like "Hey, can I have those bees?", which isn't a question one hears very often. It turns out he's a beekeeper, though, and bees are costly. A three pound box of regular bees* retails for about $150, and a queen to go with them is another $50 or so. I've lived half a century, and never even considered the idea that there might be a retail price for bees, or that you can buy them boxed.
Anyway, he came out today in his bee armour, removed part of the siding, smoked them, sucked them up with a special bee vacuum, then spread borax inside (to repel ants, who will apparently move in after bees have left otherwise) and fixed the siding and plugged up the crack. Everyone came out ahead - he got free bees, my mom got a free bee removal service, and the bees got a new home with someone who'll look after them.
*about 10k bees, an average colony
*****
Was anyone else struck by how very British the Equestrian dress uniforms looked? Shining Armor wore scarlet with white and gold; and there were some Pegasus Guards briefly in the background wearing dark blue with scarlet. One couldn't help but think of HM's Household Cavalry.
