We went over to check on the bees and get them ready to bring them home.  It's been a rough time for the bees this last month. 

On conference weekend, Kelley went over to the farm to check on them and found that a swarm had come in and taken all the honey.  I didn't even know they would do that!  Some of the hives were weak, so I guess that opens the door for other bees to move in.  It was the craziest thing...Kelley picked up a hive that still had some honey in it and brought it home so the bees couldn't steal this honey too.  He pulled up in the driveway and came in to watch the next session of conference.  When we looked out at it after that session was over, it was covered with bees.  I guess the same bees had followed him home and were after that hive too.  Kelley got the hose and started squirting them, then they flew into the back yard and were getting after the top bar hive we have back there!  Kelley sprayed them but it didn't deter them much.  It was awful to watch...the bees in our hive were trying to protect their hive and the other bees were attacking them.  They would get on each other and fight in the air.  There were dead bees all over the ground. 

This adventure with the bees has really been a learning experience.  We are finding out new things all the time about what bees do.  They seriously amaze me every time I see them... It's not always pretty though.  We had wax moths get into some of the weaker hives too and killed them off.  I think the saddest discovery we made though was when we checked the hives in early spring and found several hives had starved to death.  We were so sad. We didn't know how much they needed to be fed over the winter to keep them alive.  We know now and will keep them fed well through the winter.

Anyway, when we looked at the hives today,  they seemed healthy and strong.

Kelley and KC loaded them onto pallets, then we went home.  Kelley and KC went back after the sun went down and the bees had gone back into the hives and loaded them onto the truck and brought them home.  We will keep them here for the winter where we can keep a better eye on them.

 There were a few funky formations in some of the hives...not sure what that is?