John and a portion of his bees.
LA Backwards Beekeeper Roberta writes:
Today Rob and I did three cutouts in Mar Vista all before work!
John has had bees living in various parts of his house for a while. It started with a hive in a detached office wall. A professional took that hive out, but then more bees arrived. Dean from the Backwards Beekeepers removed that second hive. Then yet another swarm arrived and set up housekeeping in the wall!
This hive then outgrew the wall and swarmed to spot where a window used to be, and then later swarmed to a box that John had put up to catch more bees. Finally it had come time to take them all out.
Catherine, John's daughter who was home for college for summer break, helped us with the job. She seemed to really love it except for waking up so early. She scooped up bees, cut comb and tied the comb into frames. She had wanted to keep the bees and I think next time the bees come back she'll be ready.
The brood comb had a spectacular laying pattern in all of the hives. We split them up into a beautiful nuc that Rob had whipped up in his spare time, a medium box, and a deep box.
I took the medium and Rob came back later for the nuc, the deep box, and the stragglers. But when he got there he found a spot in one of the walls that had yet more comb, so he removed that as well. Sounds like a long day. Ughh! Are we crazy or what?
—roberta
