Buzz Buzzzz Buzz

We have had bees spontaneously appear in the yard at least four times in the past four years. The first time they simply landed on the back fence in a small swarm and began constructing a wax comb. The recent occurrences have all been in bird houses I had constructed and placed around the yard. Today they swarmed into the owl house on the front pine tree. I did have my suspicions based on the visits from scout bees these past few days. Bees are an amazing community in which every individual is aware of its function in the colony. They are a masterful example of God’s design. This morning they were busily packing into the Owl house and I was not entirely pleased! I like having bees about the place but not to the exclusion of the screech owls. I decided to try and relocate them. This can be messy and in fact has been very messy when attempted in the past. I spent two hours this afternoon building a ground based bee box to pour the new comers after removing them from the owl box. If I can get the queen into the new box the colony will establish itself in the new surroundings. My brother and I work together in these efforts and he is not enthusiastic when I call him about my latest plans. I have decided to use a wet dry vac for the first time hoping that it will neatly extricate all the bees while minimizing stings. We wait for night fall with the knowledge that the bees will be gathered together in the box quietly await the dawn. I need my brother to hold the vacuum above his head while I suck the bees from the front and inside of the box. There is nothing to it but to do it. I switch on the vacuum and slowly begin sucking in the bees from bottom to top. I have no idea if the bees are surviving the trip in to the canister but they disappear without any problems down the hose. This is a trip, from a writhing mass of bees, to a pristine owl box in five minutes flat. Pristine is not completely accurate.There are a few stragglers inside the box but if I got the queen they will abandon the box in a couple of days. We rush the vac to the back yard and after a few shakes I pop the lid and pour the bees into the new box. Right away I am aware that the bees are in a bad state. At least one third of their numbers are dead or dieing. The vacuum removed the bees but not without causing massive casualties this is more than a bit depressing. I hope that we got the queen and that she still survives somewhere in the tangle. Time will tell. I will check tomorrow. The mission was to remove the bees and this is almost accomplished. Strangely enough we became aware during the extraction that an owl was actually watching the proceedings. Maybe there is a pair just itching to move in!