The scene:
        An old farm down a very old & beat up dirt road.
The players:
        An old country beekeeper with 650 hives.
 
        A (semi-)young bright eyed boy with $50.00 in hand about to
        realize a long time dream of being a beekeeper.
The end:
        Bright eyes drives home in the sunset with hive in back of truck.
 
The reality:
        Help!!!! Much excitement and questions of the next scene.
 
        1.I placed the Clarence (henceforth known as "the hive")
in a fenced in area in my back yard on a milk crate. I removed screen
and inserted an entrance feeder (2 parts sugar, 1p water) with a pint of
food. No major activity. A few bees hanging out on the front porch and some
workers removing dead or injured bees. Sat watching them with flashlight &
noticed there were three bees in the house buzzing around a lamp inside the
house (the entered through an open window). Other than that no great
activity.
        2. This morning about 07:00 watched the hive for a while & there
was a bunch of bees buzzing around the front of the hive and could see them
flying abroad in search of food. Remembered talk past week about providing
water so they do not bother neighbors so I put a big bowl with pine
cones/sticks to support bees. Put this on top of hive. The bees were
drinking the sugar water as a bubble would float up every 15-20 seconds.
The realities of life set in (time to go to work) so I had to leave
Clarence the Hive alone in this brave new world.
        3. Lunch time rolled around and I could not stand the suspense any
more so off I went to my home. There were bees all over the place. They
were in my dog Ginger's water bowl. They were buzzing here and there. I
watched them for a while and there were a BUNCH of bees comming back with
pollen. The sugar water was empty. And my trusted dog was following up on
dad's training to catch flies that were in the house and was trying to
catch bees that were buzzing around her water! I guess sooner or later she
will learn the difference between "good" flies and "bad" flies. There was
only 1 bee in the water bowl I had set on the hive and 8 or so in her water
bowl.
        4. Down to business. I put ginger in the house with her water bowl.
I put the bee water bowl in front of the hive about two feet. I refilled
the sugar water. I smoked all the bees that were buzzing around where
Ginger's water bowl was. What next? How long do I feed them the sugar
water? How can I encourage the bees to drink out of there bowl. I do not
know a lot of bee flight patterns. They are not going the way I thought
they would. They are basically going in circles straight up (counter
clockwise by the way) before they roam. Is that OK? Will Ginger turn into a
pumpkin the first time she bites down on a "good fly"? What more challenges
does bright eyes face that he has yet to consider? Will he turn into a
pumpkin the next time he crosses "a good fly"?
 
Stay tuned. Your input on ths saga is much appreciated.
 
 
Bright eyes
 
[ The opinions of bright eyes do represent the opinions of Kelley Rosenlund
([log in to unmask]) and are not to be misconstrued as those of an
expert]