Take the next thirty seconds to watch the home video I took yesterday afternoon:
These are the honey bees that have congregated on mass to my adorable home garden. About 30 or so arrived the day after the cedar mulch got placed around the garden beds. Then there were 50, 100, 200....now it feels like a 1000, at least! You cannot walk through the garden anywhere without stepping on the bees sitting on the mulch, or having them fly all around you. Not one has landed on me, and no human or animal has been stung as of yet. Phew.
I checked with a google group that I am a member of and someone suggested that there is a hive within two miles and that the bees are attracted to the moistness of the mulch (their water source) and that likely they are gathering cedar oils to disinfect their hives after gathering propolis (a substance bees take from flowers to fill small gaps in their hive!). Hmmmm, although that sounds lovely and I am happy to be helping them out, given they will hopefully pollinate my veggie plants and make my harvest abundant...I am NERVOUS! When there were only some (30ish...how do you really count??), I thought I could manage. But now there are just so many...and I am not sure what to do. Any suggestions?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi, i am no expert but i think that first you should know exactly what kind of bees they are, and maybe find out about your neighbor with the hive and talk to him. Maybe they are not honey bees, in that case you can make a simple house for them [a wooden block with holes] attached to a tree so they are going to stay and pollinate your garden.
ReplyDeleteI am following your adventure!
Ciao.
I recently learned about this because our neighborhood almost became home to a beehive. Not necessarily a bad thing since they help with pollenation.
ReplyDeleteA beekeeper tells me the bees are looking for a dark covered place in which to stay
they rarely travel more than 1/2 mile
so there is a possibility that they are looking for a new home in your backyard, in your rafters, under your eaves.
You may need to call your local beekeeper to get ideas on what to do or to have it removed.
Thank you both for your suggestions. Interesting thing happened recently...I happened to be looking out my front window at exactly the time a truck pulled up at my neighbour's house. In about 10 minutes or so two bee hives were loaded on the truck and driven away...I dashed out to my garden and lo and behold, only four little bees could be found. So there it is! He was having his blueberry bushes tended to, i.e. pollinated, and the bees were hanging out in my mulch. Again, appreciate your input and the time you took to share. Thank you for visiting.
ReplyDelete