And here they come.... After much internet research, we determined the best course of action was to flood them out. We didn't want to kill them, Brian and I love little honey bees. No really, we hope one day to have a little hive of our own, but we can't let them live in our water meter. Plus, we couldn't really tell if they were European honey bees or the more aggressive Africanized varitey. Kids and Africanized bees probably don't mix...just a guess.
So once they come out they gather themselves for an hour or so. I think the queen bee is taking attendance. What do you think?Then they swarm to a temporary location, in this case our hopseed tree. Once they're in a formation that looks a lot like a Winnie-the-pooh honey pot, they hang there for up to 24hrs while they send scouts out to look for a new location, usually a mile or so away from the previous hive location, but Brian and I made a quick hive home out of a bread box in case they changed their mind and decided to stay closer to their newly flooded home.
Originally we were disappointed that the bees decided to move on, but really, I wasn't ready to rush out and purchase a beekeeping suit just yet. Meanwhile, I think the whole experience taught us a lot and probably affected Gwen's choice of Halloween costume for me modeled here by Gwen as she made a much cuter bee. Maybe next year she can be the bee and I'll be the beekeeper in my brand new suit.
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