The Speaker Box Bees and a New Queen

 Friday was the day we bit the bullet and dealt with the bees in the speaker box!

Dean and Sherry had rescued these from an area that was being bulldozed to make room for a solar panel farm back in February.

We suited up and inspected each other to make sure all the zippers were zipped and no holes or tears for bees to gain an entrance. It's important to be able to trust the integrity of our suits,

Here they are!

Their entrance is in the upper left hand corner of the box.

We had both of our smokers going because we were going to dealing with some super angry bees! Dean had to use a power saw to cut into the box.

The table was moved so we had a good place to work.

It turned out there were three different layers in the box......this is the top one.

We carefully removed the comb and put it in empty frames using large rubber bands to hold it in place.

Another section of the speaker box full of empty comb.....

And another!

There were some pretty upset bees!

We found absolutely NO evidence of a queen and that makes for an angry mob!

The comb had nectar, pollen and honey so there's a lot of resources there but no eggs, brood or larvae. We did find a couple of empty queen cells but the queen may have been eaten or injured on her mating flight because she was NOT there!

This meant that we would need to find a queen to buy ASAP.

I got one bee sting on Wednesday on the back of my neck - no big deal.

It got me through the netting.

Friday I got one sting on the palm side of my hand and that wasn't a big deal either.

I don't think Dean or Sherry got stung at all. Normally we don't.

After we finished our work, I took my smoker and walked across the field back to the camper with bees still buzzing around me until the last one flew off when I got to the carport.

I came in and took off my suit! It had served me well.

Dean and Sherry were on the deck getting out of their suits when Sherry said she had a bee tangled up in her hair. Dean was helping her as she was trying to brush it out and I was inside the front room so I opened the red screen door to see what I could do to help - and the bee sailed out of her hair and ran smack dab into my forehead right above my eye.

At first it didn't seem so bad...... so I took two Benadryl and put a cold washcloth on it.

I made sure the stinger wasn't still in there!

It continued to swelll up during the night - as I knew it would. 

So by Saturday morning it looked like this!

I look a lot like Harry from 3rd Rock From the Sun!

I have spent just about all of Saturday in the girl bunk alternating cold washcloths and cold used tea bags on my eyes.

I finished a good book and took several naps.

Sherry found a place to buy a queen bee - from a guy in our Waco bee club - but I wasn't able to go with them to get her.

Meet our new Queen for Hive #4!

She comes in a container that has a sugar plug in the opening. 

They came by here so I could meet her and then they suited up and went to the apiary and placed her in the hive. She costs $40.00 but that's a small expense to save the hive!

It's after midnight as I write this journal entry but I have napped off and on all day.

The swelling peaked this morning and I can see some improvement tonight - but I will spare you another ugly photo.

We will be packing up and heading home tomorrow (Sunday) and I am hoping I will look more like a normal person then!

 I prefer the honey but sometimes you have to endure the sting!