Top Bar Beekeeping Goes Wild!!!

Wow! What an amazing response I have received from the I wrote for the Albany Patch.

Just got an email from Sebastopol asking about my hives and then discovered that my article was reprinted on the Weston A. Price facebook page and the San Anselmo Patch. What an amazing gift the internet can be.  

I am so happy that so many people are getting the buzz about beekeeping and the importance of maintaining bees and their living spaces. As my teacher of beekeeping told me, this is going to be an unbelievable year of wild swarms.  

In the last three weeks I have had about eight swarm calls. We may never have another year like this, or it may be the new norm...I suspect that this crazy warm winter we had is the reason that the bees are reproducing at such a high rate.  

The other day I had an amazing experience while installing a swarm into a hive.  I noticed that the bees weren't congregating at the hive normally, and also observed a lot of bees congregating in the weeds a few feet from the hive.  I bent down to look and what did I see??? The queen! I picked her up and she escaped, did a huge circle over my head and then returned only to land...in my hair.  

My teacher snatched her up and placed her ever-so-gently into the hive. A few hours later, the bees were all safely and happily inside their new hive box. I feel as though I was annointed! 

More Bee Adventures to come!

Sarah Ridge
sarahhridge@rocketmail.com
510-860-3435