Buzz Worthy
Early December, on a lovely warmish day we were accessing the septic system and I noticed bees landing on the roof of the bay window and disappearing between the shingles and the flashing. How exciting to see we had honey bees in the roof! Uh-oh, but the roofers were due to start in a few days. We rather hoped not to have to kill them.
Desperate postings to friends on facebook, bee groups and on craigslist ensued. Fellow real estate investors advised, reminded and encouraged us to stay focused on our core business instead. We had to stay true to our integrity and do the right thing, and were graced with a response from Kate, a local bee keeper.
We made arrangements to meet and our day of adventure began. Kate brought along a couple of bee suits and I donned the honey-sweet smelling white outfit and hat which Kate zipped together so there were no gaps. Up the ladder I went and began demoing the shingle roof nervously. It wasn’t until I pulled the one over their entrance that suddenly a dozen or so instantly jumped out and gave me a good scare.
Time and zero stings built my confidence and soon I could see honey comb hanging. Excitement built up again and we formulated a plan to carefully extract the comb so that it could be re-positioned into frames for slotting into a hive. We worked carefully and saved many bees, but never found the queen. About seven combs later (we think, we lost count!), we were done. Kate was able to estimate by the color of the combs that the bees had been there at least a couple of years.
It’s great the bees were rehomed. Having had a hand in starting the Sammamish Community Garden across the street in Lower Commons Park I’m sad that such useful pollinators aren’t nearby any more. I’m sure they spent a lot of time over there. But having had a crash course in bee keeping, I’m in love with the little ladies and would like to become a bee keeper one day.
Thank you Kate for the marvelous local Blackberry Honey from your hives! That was very sweet of you. Thank you for your help, knowledge and inspiration.
