Thanks Kitt. I've been thinking of asking you a delicate question. 2 wks after my hive was driven away from my house, there are still 100-200 bees huddled on the hive stand. They may not be starving, but they certainly can't be happy. They seem weak and listless and I want to do the Jack Kervorkian thing and put them quickly out of their (real or imagined) misery. I thought about drowning them. It would be easy since they don't swim well under the best of conditions, and with a hose I could make it happen quickly. Is that a bad thing to do? Ideally, I would have captured them all and driven them to my hive -- a couple of miles away -- but I didn't and I won't now. It's too late. This is the only time I'm going to blog about this. And it may be my final bee-related fret-session.
The bees are finally, mostly, sadly gone. I killed the bulk of them (there were maybe 100-150 bees) on Thursday, June 9. But even today there were still three left. The actual drowning was fairly quick. Hose and bucket of water... I had to do it three times over 2 days to get down to these final three bees. During the two weeks they congregated on the empty hive stand they had, bless their hearts, built some comb. I didn't see it until I hosed them into the pail of water. Twice after that initial removal, some of the bees (20? 30?) returned (from foraging?) and each time they started working on the comb. They are SO programmed to work that it seems like they didn't really "miss" the full hive. Or am I just trying to convince myself that they didn't suffer? [I just re-read this and realize that I shouldn't post things this late at night -- it's a badly organized description.]
7 comments:
Kalanchoe.
Thanks Kitt. I've been thinking of asking you a delicate question. 2 wks after my hive was driven away from my house, there are still 100-200 bees huddled on the hive stand. They may not be starving, but they certainly can't be happy. They seem weak and listless and I want to do the Jack Kervorkian thing and put them quickly out of their (real or imagined) misery. I thought about drowning them. It would be easy since they don't swim well under the best of conditions, and with a hose I could make it happen quickly. Is that a bad thing to do? Ideally, I would have captured them all and driven them to my hive -- a couple of miles away -- but I didn't and I won't now. It's too late. This is the only time I'm going to blog about this. And it may be my final bee-related fret-session.
This is such a great photograph!
Hmm. That's a tough one. I guess the hose is the best option, if you can do it quickly. Poor bees. Poor you.
(I felt the same way disposing of those pigeon eggs.)
She's really grown up, Pam! Looks like she is sniffing the flowers.
So what happened with the hive??
The bees are finally, mostly, sadly gone. I killed the bulk of them (there were maybe 100-150 bees) on Thursday, June 9. But even today there were still three left. The actual drowning was fairly quick. Hose and bucket of water... I had to do it three times over 2 days to get down to these final three bees. During the two weeks they congregated on the empty hive stand they had, bless their hearts, built some comb. I didn't see it until I hosed them into the pail of water. Twice after that initial removal, some of the bees (20? 30?) returned (from foraging?) and each time they started working on the comb. They are SO programmed to work that it seems like they didn't really "miss" the full hive. Or am I just trying to convince myself that they didn't suffer?
[I just re-read this and realize that I shouldn't post things this late at night -- it's a badly organized description.]
Beautifully captured photo of a cat smelling the flower. Love it.
Lisa from Acoustic Guitar Lessons
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