(Casper, Wyo.) – “You first have to isolate the Queen bee from her entourage, then the rest will follow,” said Natrona County Bee Keeper and Guru Tate Belden on Friday afternoon.
Tate Belden and fellow bee enthusiast, Michelle Forster are both members of the Natrona County Beekeepers Association.
Belden and first year bee keeper, Forster were both dispatched Friday to a Casper home for ‘Cut-Out’ procedure to cut out a wild honeybee hive and take the hive to a safe and managed environment.
The Bee Guru, Belden, has been studying and working with honey bees for thirty plus years and talked us through the ‘cut-out’ process.
“First, I like to do an inspection of the area where the honey bees are. See how the bees are acting, and see what must be done to get to them and remove the hive safety.”
“We begin by removing siding or whatever panel/wood is in the way to get to the honey comb. Sometimes we as bee keepers will use a ‘smoker’ to calm the bees down, we don’t want to piss them off and get them on a rampage.”
Belden then showed off his shiny smoker and explained how when one arrives on scene and sees the bees protecting a hive, the first few honeybees buzzing around are the ‘guard bees’.
“When the guard bees feel threatened, they will release an odor pheromone that alarms the rest of the hive (Belden reported that is is a faint sent that some have said smells like bananas, no joke). The smoker masks the smell and allows the busy worker bees to get back to work.”
He continued, “Once the bees are calm I don my bee suit. Bee keepers wear white because bees are not aggressive towards light colors. I wear a hood and gloves and use my bee tool to extract the hive and the number one goal is to protect the ‘bee brood’ or the the bee larvae baby bees.”
“I then do my best to isolate and capture the Queen, with my queen catcher, from her entourage of worker bees surrounding her. She is always much bigger as she is pregnant with thousands of bees.”
Belden stated that queen bees lay almost 1,500 eggs a day, and millions of eggs in her lifetime, (think about that ladies)!
He continued to comment that once the Queen and brood is removed, the rest of the bees will soon follow.
He puts the Queen in a ‘nuc box’ or nucleolus box which he described as a wooden box tightly sealed with glue and kept at a standard 93 degrees F (the brood must be kept at 93 degrees to survive) and holds five frames. The frames hold a foundation coating, the comb, that is made out of a coating of wax.
“So, there are combs, or the frames, must be balanced between brood space and ‘stores’, stores are where the honey and food is stored.”
Belden was disappointed Friday, because he was unable to contact the home owner to complete the process. He is hopeful for later in the week to save the bees.
He concluded, “Bees are essential to our quality of life and our quality of life would greatly be compromised without bees. They are a multi-million dollar resource, and an added bonus, we get honey.”
The Natrona County Bee Keepers Association meet at the Straussner Student Center at Casper College every other Thursday at 7:00 pm.
You can learn more about the association at their website ncbees.org.
See photos below of Belden and his tools of the trade: