Elvis in a Bee Swarm, bees annoint a new queen in the Rio
Grande Valley, photos © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
I know. It’s a stretch.
No way the bee swarm in the above photo is formed in the image of Elvis Presley’s head. The chin is all wrong. Jay Leno with dark sunglasses, maybe, but definitely not Elvis.
Last week a few thousand bees in one of our hives revolted. As I understand it — from expert beekeeper Dr. Moses (pictured below) — the existing hive created a new queen. Of the thousands and thousands of eggs that the old queen laid before winter hibernation, a few were destined to become new queens. From the time they were larva, these special bee princess-pupas were fed a special diet. (It’s not known exactly how the adult bees decide which larva to make into queen bees, but I imagine it’s similar to how each new Dalai Lama is discovered, except for bees.)
Because the hive already had its old queen, the new queen and her followers had to split. So off they flew to one of our apple trees, where Jim noticed them and started jumping up and down wildly. Not really, although he did immediately call me on the cell phone and say, “Get out here, hurry, and bring the camera!”
Jim also called Dr. Moses, a local homeopath who keeps the bee hives on our property. Dr. Moses and his family have one of the oldest natural foods stores in Albuquerque. They sell local honey (great for allergies) and other natural products and pretty much keep a lot of Albuquerqueans feeling healthy.
A good friend of mine goes to Dr. Moses for bee stings to alleviate the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. She is a nurse who for years pooh-poohed the suggestion that she try bee sting therapy. Then one day she was riding her mountain bike along a ditch bank in Albuquerque’s north valley and got stung by a bee. By the time she got home from her ride, she felt different. Better. The constant achiness was gone. She’s been a bee venom advocate ever since.
For some people, however, bee stings can be deadly. There are many different kinds of reactions to bee stings, depending on the person and the type of bee (or wasp). Interesting fact: the honey bee can not pull out it’s stinger once it enters the flesh; it must remove the barb by ripping away part of its abdomen and venom sac. The stinging honey bee gives up its life, and so do four out of every thousand people with life-threatening bee allergies — they are so allergic to bee venom that they will die within 15 minutes of being stung.
It took him most of the afternoon, but Dr. Moses managed to get the new queen bee and her male drones and female workers into a new hive. The bees were somewhat accommodating, although in the interest of time he brought out smoke to get them into the box more quickly than they might have gone on their own. Unfortunately, we weren’t on hand to watch this part of the process, although next time plan to be there.
The new queen and her hive were relocated to a property two or so miles from our place. There’s always the risk that the bees will migrate back, which is why they were moved so far away. There’s also the possibility that more queens will emerge from our existing hives.
The bees in our hives are thriving, which isn’t the case with bees everywhere. Dr. Moses is so encouraged that he’s decided to bring several more hives to keep at our property. We’re thrilled, as the bees are essential to the health of our orchards. It’s a good relationship.
We’ll keep our eyes peeled for Elvis, Marilyn, or anyone else who might mysteriously appear in the pulsing, humming blobs that are bee swarms. In the mean time, let me know who or what you see in our first bee swarm of the season.
LOL! Looks like Jay Leno to me, but Elvis isn’t that far a stretch if you look at it just right.
What an amazing opportunity to see the new hive on the move. My husband is interested in beekeeping and wants to acquire a hive.
Some of the beekeepers around here have had some trouble with Colony Collapse Disorder. 😦
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ybonesy, what a fantastic post. I’m so intrigued by the whole bees and beekeeper thing. The relationships between bees seem very complex. And how the smoke relaxes them.
I remember watching the out-takes from Fried Green Tomatoes where Mary Stuart Masterson (who plays the bee charmer, Idgie Threadgoode) was talking about NOT having a stand-in for the part where she goes into the hive and slowly walks the honeycomb over to Mary-Louise Parker (who plays Ruth Jamison). She had the help of a beekeeper to walk her through the scene. She said it changed her life and her relationship to bees which seems to now be very spiritual.
The story about the nurse with MS who accidentally got stung by a bee and now believes in bee sting therapy, isn’t that amazing? It’s like someone (or some Higher Power) was watching over her and directed the whole thing.
I think Dr. Moses has the right name. 8) Hey, I wondered about your girls — are they scared of the bees at all? What’s their relationship like to the bees and the hives?
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The girls are pretty smart about bees. They know that the bees won’t sting unless provoked, so even if they’re near the beehives, the girls are calm, respectful, and fascinated. The girls love honey and are interested in the process by which honey happens.
The dogs have gotten a sting or two on their snouts. They were so curious when we first moved here. But even the dogs seem to have reached a good place relative to the bees — no incidents during last week’s pretty active swarming. I mean, things were hopping last week.
Bees are amazing. Their function in nature, how they work as a species and in their colonies. It’s simply mind-boggling. I can’t wait to observe Dr. Moses working with these bees through the season. We have a bee suit (the previous owner of the house left it for us), so I hope we can get up close to see some of what happens.
Robin, I hope you guys do get a hive. Just from following your blog, I would think your place is well-suited to it. Also, the honey is so good for you when it’s produced locally. My allergies have gotten way less problematic since I’ve been taking local honey regularly.
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Thats awesome Ybonesy. Very interesting!
When you lived at your other house, and I was on the Rez, I enjoyed going to the growers market with you guys and buying the locally raised, organic honey. It was so good, I could easily go through a jar in a week.
My brother raised bees for a while. Each hive had its own personality. One hive was extremely aggressive and had to be approached with caution. My brother felt these were Africanized bees even though it was at least 10 or 15 years before the Africanized bee reached the USA.
Cool post! 😎
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I’ll have to watch for the different personalities thing, MM. Wouldn’t it be something if each hive had a personality that emanated from its Queen Bee leader?
I really wanted to see the Queen Bee on the bee swarm that Dr. Moses took away in its new hive. I guess I could google to see what a queen bee looks like. What I couldn’t figure out was, if she is in the middle of the swarm, how do they avoid suffocating her or accidentally stinging her. And how does the swarm not fall off the tree with the weight of their bodies hanging on to each other?
We have five hives, I believe. Each drawer-looking section in the box structure (see above photos) is a hive, and we have two of those box structures, five drawers total. We found out that one had been invaded by ants, so that one got cleaned out. And then we’re going to get two more box structures, each with another two or three drawers/hives. It’ll be a buzzzy place.
Hey, your mention of honey — have you ever tried the whipped honey from the grower’s market? That one you can eat with a spoon from the jar. Just like Pooh Bear. 8)
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yb, what an impressive hive & interesting post! I find the bees & their colonies to be quite fascinating! How cool! D
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Bees are amazing creatures. I used to keep two hives. One spring they “revoluted” — twice. Frantic phone calls to my office had me racing home, trying to hive the wayward bees.
Beekeeping is an extreme sport, don’t let anyone tell you different.
Great post.
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Beekeeping is an extreme sport…
I don’t doubt it, and I am relieved that we can have the bees on the property yet have them tended to by a beekeeper. It’s perfect. Maybe as we learn about them, we’ll decide we want to keep our own hives, too, although at this point I can’t imagine when we’d fit that into our lives.
diddy, they are fascinating, aren’t they. I am intrigued by their roles and how defined those are. The male drones, the female workers, the queen, the scouts…it’s cool. I want to learn more.
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cool interesting post
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Great post! How nice to live on land big enough to be called property and not merely a yard. And an orchard! your daughter must be growing up wild and free.
I see Jay Leno for sure in the hive face. Why not call him john the Baptiist and report it to the loval TV station! Just kidding.
Interesting factoids about bees too, especially the MS story. Do you keep epi pens on hand in case a visitor is allergic to bees?
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YB…I don’t know much about bees, (although I did see the animated Bee Movie.) All kidding aside, I am delighted to see healthy bees!! I hope they find out what is making so many hives “collapse” NS Cn reverse the condition!
Good post and great photos, as usual!
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Oops! Pardon my typo…the sentence should be “and can reverse the condition.
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Top photo…ok, I see a little boy in a ball cap with bob cut hair, brim of hat pointing right, that little green spot is his eye, thin pointy nose, chin and neck clearly defined and the sun is currently on his back and right shoulder. He has one arm extending down, looks like his right hand is in his pocket, his legs beyond that and down…And… he’s holding a fishing pole in his left hand!
Hey! You did ask…
But CALL ME when you see Alfred Hitchcock. He always said he was to provide the public with beneficial shocks. I’m ready!
😉 H
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LOL. Heather, I tried to find the little boy. I think I located the branch that is the fishing rod, but I’m completely lost on which green spot is his eye. Wow, I can’t believe the detail you see there. Honestly, it’s a pretty poor photo and it’s starting to look like a dark blob to me 8) .
Hmmm, Alfred Hitchcock. I wonder what kind of beneficial shocks he had in mind.
Hey, oliverowl, you’re back home. Thanks for the comment. I hope they figure it out, too. I didn’t realize it had been going on for as long as it has. I thought it was just discovered a year or so ago, but some of the articles I found were dating back to ’04 and before that. We rely on honey bees. They’re essential to our food production.
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Christine, when I read your question about the epi pens, my heart fluttered. Yikes, no I don’t, and I should. I’m pretty sure Jim’s father has a severe allergy to bees. And the girls often have their friends here. I need to find out if any of them has allergies.
Then I was wondering, how does someone know if they have a life-threatening bee allergy? Probably by getting stung, right? And a 4-in-1000 condition is not all that rare. I’ll have to look into this further.
John the Baptist…ha! With a pontiff’s cap. Yeah, I see it.
BTW, I’d love to write more about this property. It’s really unusual, not just because of its size (it’s pretty big, especially given that it’s so close to an urban area) but moreso because the previous owner developed the bulk of the land as a sort of refuge for birds and some of the kinds of wildlife you see around here. He built a big pond, and we see all sorts of cool things. Yesterday we came across a box turtle. I took photos 8) .
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I think the photo looks like a poodle, resting with it’s paws stretched out. That was my first thought upon reading this post. D
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ybonesy, I hope you do that post someday on that property. It’s amazing. And the fact that you have a pond (not unusual in Minnesota, but more so in New Mexico) you are bound to get tons of wildlife, searching for the relief of water. Maybe next time I am there, we can walk your property. I’d love to get more a sense of it.
I admit, I’m a little scared to get too close to the bees. But maybe I can wear the beekeeper’s suit. 8) I’m not allergic that I know of. But I’m not a big fan of bee sting pain. My sister is allergic to bee stings (which came up in another post in a discussion between diddy, me, Mom, and R3 when we talked about bees stuck in my sister’s hair. I’ll have to find the comment and post a link.). I wonder if she’s read this post and if she has a reaction from just seeing the photographs.
Anyway, back to the property – your girls have a wonderful place to grow up there, close to nature. And I love all the posts you do about the land and critters there. Has Jim seen the hummingbirds lately? Don’t they migrate away, then come back in Spring?
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Oh, I just found the Comment chain on the time the yellow jackets got tangled in my sister’s hair. Two of my brothers were the culprits. You can even see that our Mother chimes in on the comments here, too!
So wonderful to get the story from different members of the family. The only one I haven’t heard from yet, is my sister herself, GritsInPA? I wonder what she thinks!
Here’s the link to the family discussion:
Comments 23 through 36 on WRITING TOPIC – INSECTS & SPIDERS & BUGS, OH, MY! (LINK)
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Yellow jackets, those are type of wasp, right? Yikes, I run from those any time we see them. We tend to get wasp nests in the most inconvenient places, like in the drainage canals lining the porches or edges of the roof. The wasp nests are cool to look at — some made of mud, others a more papery substance — but not the wasps. We’ve had a few stings of those, and they hurt like a holy mama.
QM, it was fun to re-read the comments re: poor GritsinPA and the prank, and then how your mom had to take her to the doctor. That was a lively conversation, intermixed with reccos talking about eating fried Jerusalem Crickets. HA! It just goes to show how many memories — some not so fun — we all have when it comes to insects, bugs, birds and bees 8) .
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diddy, hmm, a poodle, eh? The bumpy bees definitely resemble a poodle’s fur. I think it looks like a standard poodle head. Kind of.
Hey, QM, I read in the other comment thread on insects that in the out-take from Fried Green Tomatoes the bee expert confirmed that the honeybee is pretty peaceable. That was soothing to read ; – ) .
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Ok, well the poodle could be wearing sunglasses! 🙂 D
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Keep your eye out for an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe! I think she must be tired of appearing on toasted cheese sandwiches, grain silos, and the sides of houses. Bees would seem to be more her style. Let me know and I will fly out with my camera to record the image.
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Bob, I’m going with you to New Mexico. But then, who is going to get to wear the beekeeper’s suit when we walk up for that perfect macro shot? 8)
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I can *definitely* see a standard poodle in sunglasses!! 8)
Yes, Bob, I definitely will watch for Our Lady of Guadalupe. Believe me, I looked hard to see if there was any way she was hiding in that first swarm.
QM, putting on the bee suit, hands covered, head covered — you could have captured some excellent macro shots. Dr. Moses had his truck out there so you could get close to the swarm. Ah…. Next time.
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ybonesy, yes, next time! I forgot to comment yesterday, I liked how your 4 photos go from the wide view, down to the close view. When I was getting my photos ready for a new post last night, I noticed I had unconsciously shot that way, too, last weekend on one of the sculptures at the Walker. It was like looking in a mirror.
It’s fun to play with the layout, isn’t it, and add those little hidden trinkets. Ever since you talked about the sausages and pepperoni in the Sony post, and the heel-toe-heel-toe in the Neruda post, I’ve been checking out your layouts more closely. 8)
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(smile) I’m glad you noticed. Sometimes it’s subconscious, but other times not.
BTW, QM, to your question about the hummingbirds, yes, they have just started coming around this week. We had a hummingbird feeder mishap yesterday, in fact.
Jim took 8 cups of sugar and 32 cups of water and boiled up a vat of sugar water for the many feeders around the place. He had the concoction sitting in a big pot to cool, with the intention of filling all the feeders this morning.
Well, last night I was craving Pasta Puttanesca, and so I took the big pot, poured out what I thought was old water, and put in new water. Alas, the feeders go empty one more day 😦 . (Or for however many days it takes before we buy more sugar.)
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ybonesy, oh, so sorry to hear about the hummingbird nectar. I’m glad you mentioned it though because I wanted to ask about how Jim makes the concoction to feed the hummingbirds.
So he combines 8 cups of sugar and 32 cups of water and then what? Does it boil it for a certain amount of time? Our friends gave us a hummingbird feeder for Christmas last year and we’re getting ready to put it up. But I wasn’t sure what was best to feed them.
Also, how many hummingbird feeders do you all have? And where do you hang them? In trees, on the patio? Just curious. I’m excited at the possibility of drawing them to our little yard.
I have mostly seen them out West, and there are different breeds out there. But I’m told they are in MN as well. And hummingbirds are about Joy. 8)
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QM, just realized I hadn’t answered your questions about hummingbird feeders.
Jim heats the water only hot enough and long enough to dissolve the sugar. After that you let it cool to room temperature and then fill the feeder. Don’t add coloring. I guess it used to be thought that colored water attracted hummingbirds, but the truth is that they find the food through smell. The red food coloring or any food coloring can be harmful to the birds.
We have about ten feeders, and they hang all over around the house, under eaves and patios and in trees. Jim got them all filled by this weekend, and they’re still pretty full. The hummers aren’t here in big numbers yet — it’s still very cool at night. But we’re seeing a few here and there.
Joy. Yes, I can see that.
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The reason I came back to this post was to say that the hives produced a new swarm over the weekend. We saw this one as it was forming, and the commotion was incredible. I wish I had a recorder. The noise was a loud, loud hum, bees everywhere. They bees finally formed their swarm about 35 feet into a tree, and so even though we called Dr. Moses, there wasn’t anything he could do to get the bees into a new hive. They were just too high.
I think they’re still there. They actually started forming on Fri or Thu night. They’ve been hanging out there for three to four days now. I don’t know how long they stick around before they find a place to form their new hive. We’ll see. I’m kind of sad that they went up so high. I would have liked to see them go into one of Doc’s hives.
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Hey, thanks for reminding me of this post! I was going to call Jim when things happened quickly. Ben Blackwell took the whole swarm in one snip; I wanted you to see the swarm we had this morning in our office courtyard (Corrales Wellness Connection) so :
check it out 5/22/08 http://chickenlil.blogspot.com
or chickenlil.org
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Really cool, ‘lil. Will you follow up with Ben to see what he did afterwards? Now I’m curious if the swarm simply stays together until herded into a bee hive. That was just a cardboard box he was using, right?
You know, we lost one swarm. It went up too high to capture and eventually moved on. Looks like the local bees are crazy healthy. Yay!!
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It was crazy – the swarm just dropped as one organism into a cardboard box. No bees swirling out, it is like they are in a dormant state or trance. He simply taped up the box and took it away. Presumably he just plops it into a hive box. A few stragglers buzzed around afterwards, but it started to pour and blow almost immediately, so that was that.
I think the swarms do move naturally, though I don’t know why. I guess the Queen escapes at some point and continues on some trajectory, and all the bees follow. Betty told me there was a huge swarm at the Bio Park, 6 feet wide and tall as a tree!
Makes me wonder what’s going on in bee-world.
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[…] bee hives within about a five-mile radius of our home. The latest blast of honey came directly from the bee hives in our orchard. Dr. Moses, keeper of those hives, pulled out an entire honeycomb and handed it over as a special […]
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