Yesterday, our bees swarmed! Which means…uh…that they left the hive to find a new place to live because their hive was too crowded and they hatched a new queen and blah, blah, blah…they swarmed!! I can’t tell you how relieved I was that the official beekeeper was home, because if he had been at work when the swarm started I would have called him and said, “Your bees…gone. See ya at dinner.”
If you don’t keep an eye on your bees you can miss a swarm. Clay just happened to be outside working when he heard a lot of buzzing and saw thousands of bees swirling around a pear tree.
He quickly ran into the house and consulted his bee manual to make sure he knew what to do. A swarm doesn’t last very long so you need to move quickly if you want to capture it and get them moved into a hive. Fortunately, we had the dead bee hive that was stored in the barn because all the bees had died over the winter. Clay rushed to get it set up.
This is an empty frame that the bees will build wax comb on and the queen will lay eggs.
This is an old frame that is full of wax. He put two of these in the hive so the bees would smell the comb and be drawn into the entrance to start doing their thing. He also set a jar of sugar water near the hive body and sprayed sugar water around the entrance.
Then it was time to capture the swarm. Dear God…..
please…
let…
me…
live.
Seth and I stood back to watch.
This is the cluster of bees that formed in the pear tree.
Clay took a cardboard box and a soft bristled paint brush to catch the bees.
And now I think you should see for yourself how the rest of it went.
Fast Tube by Casper
After three trips up in the tree Clay was able to get them into the hive. He’ll open the hive in a couple days and make sure that the queen is actually in there.
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TOOOO funny! I guess you will keep you distance now, right? I really liked the way Clay got away from the bees! Bravo!
OMG!! Bees! The video didn’t work – so I guess Clay is still alive, right? Right!
You should have posted a warning…I almost peed in my computer chair when I watched that. Good thing your…um…beekeeper..isn’t allergic to bees.
Oh good HEAVENS! I’m glad I don’t have to do THAT! Goodl uck with your new hive…I hope the queen’s in there and y’all don’t have to move any more swarms.
Thank you for the great belly laugh. Not laughing at you,but with you. I scream and run around when a bee flys by so I felt your “pain”. I think I have to watch again…to funny.
OMG–I have tears running down my face from laughing. “Help your mother..help your mother!!!” Too funny!
Holy Cow April!!!
I couldn’t have done that. I laughed but at the same time I was squirming. EEEEK
I loved how your beekeeper got away. LOL
Charity
That was off the hook! Cracked me up!!
The video certainly lived up to my expectations when I saw the subject!! You guys are just too much!
Great, now my mascara is running from laughter!
What fabulous fun and to hear your son in the background laughing hysterically was even better.
Do I hear chicks peeping as well?
You have the nicest husband! You guys all crack me up – thanks for the laugh!
Girl ~ you have me laughing my head off!! I think I should take up bee-keeping just for the aerobic exercise that obviously comes with it! Hey~ there’s an idea, open a new kind of work-out center…Bee-ercising~ guaranteed to keep you motivated to run!!
The end needs the Benny Hill soundtrack:)
You guys crack me up!
I am laughing so I hard, I gave myself hiccups!!!!
Oh mercy. Can’t breath!!! That is so funny. I loved the captions you added.
That was funny and scarey!
Umm..April? Next time could you put a warning before the video? Because I darn near peed in my pants. Good thing I wasn’t drinking anything since my husband hates finding tea sprayed on the monitor and the keyboard. That video reminds me of the time my daughter and I went up to the trailer lot to check on our pop-up and discovered a nest of angry hornets- one of which decided to attack my hair which was gathered up into a messy bun. I was running away from the trailer and swatting at my head (I could hear the angry buzzing) and she was chasing me (kind of like Seth) and telling me to hold still while swinging the trailer hitch at my head (yeah sure honey- I’ll hold still!!!) trying to dislodge the hornet. We were both laughing hysterically as we ran past the security cameras b/c we were imagining the security guys watching the whole thing and spewing coffee all over their monitors. Neither of us were harmed in the incident but I can’t say the same for the hornets. We came back at dusk with a huge can of Raid.
Whooooa, all that camera rolling around….kinda woozy, now.
I love you so hard for that. Definitely cackled. Yes, yes – I did. Thanks for the cinema verite!
This is my first time visiting your site–sent by Pioneerwoman.com. Funny stuff. Your husband sounds like Ray Romano. Laughter is such good medicine. Thank you.
OMG – I thought for a second in the beginning that you were just too close… and then I started laughing.. non stop with tears in my eyes.. and I almost feel guilty for laughing at your expense… but oh my… that was something!!!
OMG OMG OMG beeeeess!!!! that was hilariously scary! you should totally enter it into funniest home videos!! SO FUNNY!! and scary!
i havent’ laughed that hard in a long time. I really loved the part, “HELP YOUR MOTHER!”
You two are such a HOOT. Killer Bees. Best part(s): Help your mother and they’re stinging my ankles.
You keep the rest of us laughing and humbled by your transparency. Love IT!
~ Everytime you laugh out loud you add a year to your life & ours!
And the pic of the swarm on the trunk of the tree is possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen… thanks for posting it! I would never have known they did that!
I’m having a stroke, laughing. I was just like that X10 the last time a junebug flew in my hair.
HILARIOUS!!! As a new bee keeper though, you’ve given me a slight case of the worries! I’ve just gotten my queens happily installed and organized in their new hives. I am supposed to go in in a week to check on them and when 6 out of 8 of my frames are drawn out with comb, I have to add on a super . . . but now I’m worried I’ll miss the chance!
Hats off to you guys for getting that swarm. Yowza! That would take some guts. You can check out my recent bee-shinanigans at http://www.sandstone-sandstone.blogspot.com . . . no running around in circles has been involved yet, but stay tuned!! 
Sandy
I’m so glad P-Dub turned me on to your site. Your bee keeping has been my ‘laugh-o-th-day’. Thanks for sharing!
Once a bumble-bee flew up my shorts. The Horror!
Uhm. Nice to meet you. I am new to your blog, and may I say after this post you can be sure I will be coming back for more! Reading blogs is like my cup of coffee, I sit alone trying to wake up before the children rise, catching up with light reading… this video was like a really good and big mug of fancy coffee… thank you!
That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen! I think I got a little motion sickness there for a minute, but that was way too funny!
That’s so hilarious I laughed out loud! I came to your blog through the Pioneer Woman, and I’m glad I did.
April — I going through some stuff — like a lot of people. Thank you so much for that video. It’s been quite a while since I’ve laughed that hard!!!!
Does it make me a terrible person to say that was the funniest thing I have seen in a very long time? I have tears running down my face, and not because I am fearful that you or Clay was stung. Yes, I am a horrible, non-compassionate person. But, oh the funny!!
Oh, my gosh! This is the first time I’ve ever visited your site, and this is the first thing I see??? Thank you for a great laugh! I will be back to visit your blog often! I especially liked the beekeeper’s stop, drop and roll at the end. Too funny!
The kids and I just watched the whole bee experience and I think you guys are completely nuts!!! I would die if I had a bee stuck in my hair. Watching your husband run and then role in the grass was hilarious. You are a better woman than I.
Julie
Really funny!!! Looks like you had a great time with those bees!! Love your blog,got your link off pioneer woman.I will be visiting often.
Keep on Truckin
OMG that was hilarious! I am scared to death of bees, and I react the way you do, and my husband and kids think its super funny lol
hilarious. I was thinking of getting bees myself in the next year or so…but I may just think about it at this point.
Sooo funny! Very Cloverfield-ish.
I would have reacted the same way.
Found you via Ree and, as Arnold would say, I’ll be back!
Just came here from PW. This? Made me laugh. I love your site and will be back.
that. was. HILARIOUS!! i cannot believe you stayed so close while he was “brushing the bees into the box!” oh my gosh, i was laughing so hard as you kept the video rolling!
and, your husband, BeeKeeper Extraordinaire, at the end… priceless!!! 
funny how brave we can be…and then along comes a tiny little creature with an even tinier sharp pointy stinger, and big ol’ us–we run like the wind!!
thank you. thank you…for the great laugh this morning!
HELP YOUR MOTHER! I love it! You just provided my comic relief for the day. Thank you very much!
OMG! You’re a riot!
Here’s my observations:
1) Capturing that swarm looked so easy….until it comes to dismount your ladder.
2) As assistant beekeeper, you may need to invest in some a matching beekeeper outfit.
3) You sound just like your sister!
4) At one point I wasn’t sure if I was still watching a beekeeping video or if the camera (or me) had been sucked into a vortex. There was so much moving around.
Thanks for the laugh!
I seriously don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard. Although now I feel bad about that…and I hope you DID capture the queen. You must let us know when you find out!
ONE WORD
INSANE!
freakin’ hilarious!
Here via Pioneer Woman.
Thanks for the great laugh.}:P
Hilarious!! You need a little disclaimer at the beginning, “No bees, nor humans, were injured during the making of this video.” Then submit it to America’s Funniest!
OMG!!! I added your video to my Blog cause it was SO funny!!! Although I must admit I was getting motion sickness from the movement of the video camera-I am so totally with you on the “get that bee out of my hair!!!” thing. Love your blog! Check mine out for some cute, tiny puppy love!
Hilarious!!
That was a hoot! As calm as your husband was, your son was amazingly calm. And you? Not so much.
Kudos for keeping the camera running so we could all enjoy your trauma. Trauma is SO much better when viewed on this side of the keyboard.