Hello!
Oh, yeah yeah.
Do you have some bees?
[On the phone]: Yeah, I do.
Oh gosh, okay.
So, um, are the bees outside?
Or are they hanging on a tree?
Like, where are the bees at?
You know, as a child, I spent a lot of time crafting and making miniatures
And so I think that that ties in because I like to look at things in great detail.
And I pay very close attention to what's happening in my garden.
And what's happening with the bees
It's all like zooming in and looking at them closely
I'll tell you what -- if you could send me a photograph
Like text me a picture of the area
That way I'll have a general idea of what to bring with me to get them
And then text me the address
Um, I can head right over
Beekeeping came into my life at a time when I was transitioning from being a career woman
To a stay-at-home mom
And I was really looking for an extra level of fulfillment
And something for myself
That I could really dive into , other than raising my kids
And, so, I started keeping Mason bees
They're little native bees that are very easy to keep
But I loved it so much, and my fascination for bees continued to grow
I started studying honey bee keeping
and I'd been studying for about a year
when a swarm of honey bees landed in my front yard
That was the moment when I realized that I needed to take the leap
And become a bee keeper
When they're swarming -- like what you're seeing right now
They're actually pretty calm and gentle
So, you guys can just stand back
I would not think of them as a risk right now
You know, once they land in a spot, they'll stay there for a little while
All right, bye
The most rewarding and unexpected thing about beekeeping
has been becoming connected to so many new people
in this wonderful beekeeping community that we have
There's the connectivity to nature
And being able to share my enjoyment of bees with other people
I think is kind of infectious
And that's part of my mission: to spread that joy
of living with bees
I love swarm catching
I call myself a "swarm chaser"
Because I clear my schedule during the springtime
Because I'm waiting for swarm calls to come in
Yeah, if they don't have a queen, they could either just die off or they can...
So, if the queen's not in the hive, some of the worker bees will get the idea to start laying eggs
But none of their eggs are fertile
And it's a bad situation when that happens
The queen is really vital to their health
Every time I go on a swarm call, I learn something new
Even though, you know, my skill at collecting swarms is improving
Hello, ladies
I just love that sense of adventure, something new is going to happen
You're going to meet new people
You get to tell people about the bees
So, I don't know!
I guess, every swarm is kind of crazy
I should have warned you that was going to happen.
So the bees at the bucket are using their homing pheromone
And that will signal to the others that the colony has moved to a different spot.
And, in time, everybody will get the message and they'll go to the bucket
These right here, I mean, every bee right here is fanning
Even the ones in here are doing it
Best bee-scooping tool ever
When they've outgrown their space, and if they're healthy
They will prepare to leave by making new queens, and when those queens are ready to hatch
The old queen will leave with about half of the workers
And then they'll set up a new hive in a different location
A swarm is like this, they haven't decided to make this their home
They're just in transit
It's a resting point for them
This is my other tool for getting swarms that are really high up in the air
And this extends to 15 feet
I brought this with me thinking, "Well, you know, they're high up, I might need to use this"
But I'm glad that I didn't have to use it
Because this is a lot of work
Best outcome -- they'll all go to the box, and I'll come back in the morning
They'll all be in the bucket and I can take them to their new hive
Bees are important, because they're not only an indicator species
of what is happening in our environment
They also are the backbone of our food chain
They're not just supplying food for humans, they're supplying food for birds
and critters that feed off the plants that they pollinate
So, without the bees, there is no us
There is no ecosystem
They're that critical to our environment
I don't know how to convey that in a way that spells out just how freaking important they are