Monday, May 24, 2010

Trapped snake


Trapped snake
Originally uploaded by Beaver w/ a Toothbrush

Our well pump stopped working again a few weeks ago. When we set out in the morning to try and figure out what was wrong I noticed this snake when I was walking back to the house from the shed.

She was caught under the south side of the mobile. I thought she might be dead but I gave her a bit of a poke with a stick and she moved slightly.

We took a break from well fixing and dug out around her to try and see where she was caught. The mobile has chicken wire buried around it and while there are plenty of spots where it's completely rusted and gone, the snake had tried to go out through an intact piece.

As we dug she pulled her head out and gave us an annoyed look. We were a little worried about what kind of snake she might be but when we saw her head and she unwound a bit, it was clear she was a gopher snake.




That made us want to save her all the more. We have plenty of gophers around that we'd like be rid of. Husband got some gloves and gripped her head while I got around her with wire cutters and tried to cut the chicken wire away.

I thought I had freed her so husband let her go but it was no good. We shaded her with some scrap wood and went to work on the well again to give her a break.

We came back later and Husband grabbed her again. I got braver and really got in there to see what was going on. I found that she had wedged herself into one of the pieces of wire. I could barely get the wire cutters between her and the wire. When I finally cut the right piece though it was obvious. She started backing out right away.

Husband let her go and she reversed under the mobile and was gone.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Newbees


Newbees
Originally uploaded by Beaver w/ a Toothbrush

The package bees my mom got for Husband's birthday a couple months ago shipped from Illinois last Tuesday.

My mom called on Friday morning. The UPS guy had called her and he was on his way with the bees. Husband hurried out the door.

The bees were in this screened crate but also inside another box. When husband got there he took them out of the box and sprayed them down with sugar water. The sugar water gives them something to eat and makes them less flighty. It also helps cool them down.



Sugar-water shower

He put them in the passenger seat of the truck and drove up. When he got back home, I grabbed the camera and we went to work setting them up in their new home.

We took the cover of the hive and sprayed them thoroughly with sugar water again. Then we took out the can that had provided them with sugar water during shipping. Once the can was out, husband pried out the staples holding the queen cage to the crate.



Queen cage removal

We made a hole in the candy plug on the queen's cage so the other bees could slowly free her and at the same time become accustomed to her. Then we suspended her cage in the hive.

After the queen cage was out, I took the opportunity to take some pictures inside the crate. It contained about three pounds of bees - about 9000!



Package interior

The way to get the bees into the hive is easy in theory. You just remove a few frames from the hive and shake the package over the hole. You might whack the side of the package a bit to get more of them out.



Freein' bees

It's a little more difficult than it sounds. As soon as the first bunch falls in, there are bees flying around everywhere. They land on everything (including our now sugar-covered hands) and make it hard to hold or whack the package while still avoiding whacking a bee.



Shakin' bees

Once husband and I swapped places though we got most of them out. I'd hold the package really securely and he'd really whack the side of it. That would cause most of the bees to fall to the other side of the package. Then I'd tip the package the other way, and they'd roll in a beeball out the hole.

We took breaks from time to time to spray the flying bees down with sugar water. The wind was blowing so by this time my camera had a fine spray of sugar covering it. The pictures started getting a little blurry.

After most of the bees were out of the package it was just a matter of sliding the frames back in without squishing anybee.



Replacing frames

Then we carefully replace the screen hive topper and the lid. We left the package next to the hive so any stragglers could find their way in later.



Bee install complete