The bees are back

Back in an earlier blog post from May: The Swarm I showed you how a colony of bees had inhabited a column by our side door.  We thought it was kind of neat and interesting and we learned a lot about bees just by watching them.  We had to warn neighbors coming to visit about the swarming bees, though.  A swarm of bees by your side door isn't exactly welcoming or hospitable, so when our colony moved away and left, we weren't sad to see them go.

A beekeeping friend of mine told me that I needed to pull the column down and clean the wax and honeycomb out as it would attract another swarm of bees.  I did not put it high on my priority list and wouldn't you know it, they're baaaa-aaack.  Five months later another swarm has moved in.  They are going to the exact same spot.  As you can see they fly to the top of the column and climb into the crack at the top and go into the hollow column where they have built their home.

Bee careful if you come visit us!

They aren't overly aggressive up to this point.  I can walk right up to them and you can hear them buzzing from within the column.  It is really loud and kind of a scary thing.

Home Sweet Home

Each morning we walk out to a multitude of dead bees on the sidewalk beneath the column.  Bees have a 'funeral staff' that are constantly pushing dead bees out of the hive.  With a queen laying 1,000 to 3,000 eggs a day and a bee's lifespan only lasting 6 weeks, there are always dead bees.  Lots of them.  Tricia has been sweeping them into the flowerbed.

Dead Honey bees

At night bees are supposed to slow down, but our bees have been busy as... well, bees.  Can you see them all around the light?

One good thing about having the bees back is their assistance in pollinating things in the garden.  Check out the honeybee in the picture below flying from right to left in the center of the picture.  If you look closely, you can see one of his pollen sacs absolutely full of pollen.

Pollinating the flowering basil

How long they'll stay this time is anybody's guess.  I just wish there was a way to rob the honey that they are making.