The Tall Tale of the Poor Beekeeper Who Saved the Swarm of Bees

soarwitheagles

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Once upon a time there was a very poor beekeeper. He loved bees and wanted to help them. One day, as he was walking through the forest, he heard a very interesting noise...Buzzzzzz, buzzzz buzzz went the noise!

As the poor beekeeper looked up, he saw much to his surprise, a wonderful swarm of bees landing in a tree!

Swarm of bees on the first day.JPG


But the poor beekeeper felt sad. The bees were so high up in the tree, we was not able to help them and a very big rain storm was headed their way...

The poor beekeeper remembered seeing bees drown in the swimming pool and he felt even sadder! How could he possibly help the bees escape the large rain storm that was approaching?

He did not have a large boom lift to rescue the bees...
He did not have a personal helicopter to rescue the bees...
He didn't even have a long enough ladder to rescue the bees...

Oh my, what could he possibly do to rescue the poor bees from the fast approaching storm?

He put on his thinking cap and he thought, and he thought, and he thought...

Suddenly, an idea came to the poor beekeeper's mind...

He ran and grabbed four t-posts...

He ran to his truck and grabbed the bungee cord webbing...

He ran to his bedroom and grabbed a couple of bed sheets...

Then he ran to the place under the tall tree with the bees....

And he began to put his carefully thought out plan into action!

He pounded the four t-posts into the ground...

He tied the webbing to the t-posts...

Bungee cord netting 2.JPG


Then he attached the bedroom sheets to the netting....

Catch the swarm set up full pic.JPG


Finally, he ran and grabbed his trusty Benjamin Marauder .25 pellet gun...

Benjamin Marauder.JPG


And finally, it was time to put his plan into action...

He aimed very carefully at the branch on the tree where the poor cold bees were hanging...

And sure enough, snap! The branch that the poor cold bees were hanging from up in the very tall tree fell right into the bungee cord netting with the bed sheets!

The poor beekeeper ran and picked up the bee box and ran to the poor cold bees on the broken tree branch in the bed sheets...

And he placed the broken tree branch with the poor cold bees onto the bee box! Suddenly, the bees began to move!

Box with branch of bees on top.JPG


The poor cold bees realized they had found a new warm home and they became very excited! They began to march right into their new found home...

The poor yet happy beekeeper carried the bee box with the very excited bees to his bee yard. He placed the excited bees right next to another bee hive, so they could be friendly neighbors...

Bees shook out on top of super.JPG


Then he placed another box on top of that one!

Bees in box.JPG


And finally, he added some frames of honey and pollen but not before he first took a nice big spoonful of honey for himself!

Time to give them some honey.JPG
Honey frame in the box.JPG


Then the poor but happy beekeeper remembered that bees also need pollen, so he quickly added a frame of pollen to the bees new home...

Time to give them some pollen too.JPG


Last of all, he placed a lid on top of the bees new home so the bees would not get rained on from the big rain storm. Suddenly the beekeeper remembered the bees had a very scary and fast fall from high up in the tree. He decided to give the bees some sugar syrup to comfort them after such a terrifying drop from high up in the tree...

And the bees lived happily ever after!




PS The poor beekeeper also took a video of the entire process, including the roller coaster like ride from the tree to the ground...hope to post it soon!

Have a great day everyone and I hope I made someone's day happy by placing a smile on their face and laughter in their heart!
 
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soarwitheagles

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Oh, by the way, the bees had moved from the very large branch to a very small branch overnight...

Swarm hanging from tree.JPG
Swarm hanging from tree 2.JPG


And here is the bottle of sugar water that helped comfort the bees and as the story says, they are living happily ever after along with the poor but happy beekeeper, the almond growers, and even the almond eaters!

And they lived happily ever after.JPG
 
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soarwitheagles

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To be honest with you, The Benjamin Marauder is an incredibly accurate PCP air rifle. Shooting the Benjamin Marauder .25 from rest at 70 yards with no wind, and correct breathing techniques, it is quite easy to place the shots through one hole all day long!

Here is a guy shooting from 100 yards on a windy day:


To be honest with you, I should have been able to snap the 3/8" twig in the story with one shot. But a number of factors occurred:

1. I was too darn excited.
2. Rain and wind had begun.
3. No place to rest the gun.
4. I was in a big hurry.
5. The darn branch was moving!

It took me 3 shots. First shot nicked the branch. Second shot nicked the branch again. Third shot I aimed two inches higher and it snapped the branch instantly.
 
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Happy Chooks

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Nice shot! Silly bees for swarming with an oncoming storm coming. A nice size swarm though! I thought they are supposed to be able to sense storms approaching?
 

soarwitheagles

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Happy,

I too was told they can sense/read barometric pressures in their brain. So I have no clue why they did this...

They swarmed yesterday, stayed out in the rain last night, got rained on today, and I finally realized if I didn't do something, they might die.

Mission accomplished!

Hope to upload a video soon...
 

babsbag

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What a great story. You are gifted when it comes to the bees and you are being blessed many times over. I would still be out there trying to hit that branch. Truly genius and those are some lucky bees.
 

soarwitheagles

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Babs,

I am fortunate to be able to try new things and learn! And it sure has been one heck of a learning experience so far.

I am trying to look on the brighter side of things...trying to stay positive and creative!

Last, I am glad the swarm moved to that tiny branch...it was so strange and wonderful. Their first landing spot was about 60 ft. up on an 8 inch diameter piece of the upper trunk. That would have required a cannon to knock down and I probably would have had to find one of those suicide prevention nets for humans to save the bees!

I am just glad it worked out...and to be honest with you, I will not really know if it truly was a success until next week when I check to see if there is a queen laying eggs in their new home...
 
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