Supplying raw, authentic, honest Overberg honey is great, but you know what would be even better? Cultivating our very own honey!
We have a couple of our own hives set up in various locations, but unfortunately we're a bit too late for the season of catching swarms. So we would have to wait patiently until the next summer before we could catch our own bees.
That was until the previous weekend. Turns out, the beekeeper from whom we currently source our honey had a struggling hive. He offered to give us the hive to see if we could assist it so that the bees would become a stronger colony, capable of surviving the upcoming winter.
This was such a generous gift, considering that we would either have to wait quite some time before struggling to catch a swarm, or we'd have to buy a swarm, which can be very costly.
It was quite nerve wrecking to drive with the bee hive in the car, but luckily my husband closed off all the entrances pretty well. Nevertheless, we kept our bee suits on for the drive. After having relocated the hive, we knew the bees would take some time to re-orientate themselves, having to reprogram their GPS according to their new location. However, we were surprised to see that the next morning they were already bringing in white pollen, so it didn't take them that long to adjust after all.
We are so excited to have our own little family of bees! It is rewarding to see how our methods of assisting them are paying off. For example, we blocked one of their two entrances so that they wouldn't waste energy on trying to guard an extra entrance. This also makes it easier for them to control and regulate the temperature of their hive, as there is only one gap where cold air can enter.
We observe how they carry pollen into the hives during the early morning hours, and how they begin to rest in the evenings. Bees are certainly busy! But they are also smart, because it seems like they get all their work done from early in the day. They definitely have good time management skills.
We look forward to seeing how this hive grows in numbers. We will most likely only harvest honey from them in the next summer. We would rather let the bees keep the honey they have now to sustain them through the winter.