that is living the wild life! interesting.

william

I hope you took that with a telescopic lens. Good pictures. That is amazing that he can make them go in the hive.

christie, that is something I have never seen in my life.

Thank you so much for showing us. I didn't realize what it was at first!

All I can say is WOW!

What a wonderful thing to see.
My grandfather was a bee keeper. He would give us a slice of honeycomb when we went for a visit.
Thanks' for the wonder pictures and a trip down memory lane.
Glad you were not stung.
Bonnie

So glad to see there are still bees somewhere. We seem to have lost almost all of ours in our area. Used to see lots of honeybees this time of the year, but very few last spring and this.

I've been seeing honeybees more in the last two or three years. I think there must be a hive nearby. When I was looking for information on swarms when this happened, one site said they do this when their hive gets too crowded. About half of the population leaves, and then forms a swarm while scouts go out and look for a new place to start a hive. It's got me wondering if I have a neighbor around here that has bee hives. If so, they may be wondering where all their bees went.

Here's my other wildlife this week:

Great pics of the bees, I have never seen this up close either and was facinated by it...I love honeybees, but I probably would have been scared to move too...

Christie, We were tearing down a house years ago and had a hive the length and width of 2 studs. We called a bee-keeper too and he came out to smoke them but they were stinging him all over. He would say, "now baby don't do that", I was in awe of him but I guess after awhile you must become immune. He did say they were black bees and they were too mean to keep but he got them out for us. Thanks for sharing. At first I thought it was some weird looking bear. lol
Nancy

If you had baby chicks you would have killed that black snake because I can tell you from experience that even one that size can squeeze young chicks to death. DH killed a 3 footer last week before it found the chicks but not before it found the bluebird nest in the garden fencepost. I know they need to eat too, but they can't have my chicks--or my bluebirds. They can just go find a rat or mouse.

Okay Christie....after seeing your pictures I'm ready to move back to the city! Still trying to adjust to this country living. Just the other day I found a small snake (if there is such a thing) dead on our drive that must have been caught under a tire. I know this is the time of the year for the snakes to be out and I'm getting real paranoid out in the gardens. Great pics I have to say!
Pam

I thought it was a crack in your brick wall too!

I am torn between leaving the black snakes alone and worrying about the baby birds and the eggs in the hen house. We usually put them in a bucket and relocate them down on the river that is nearby.

I leave the black snakes and hope they eat more mice than baby birds but if I had chickens, I'm sure he would have to go.

I'm more nervous about the bees than the snake. I still have a tiny blob of bees in the same tree and I'm afraid to mow close to it. They were supposed to leave when the rest of the swarm was taken out but I guess they don't know the rules.

Nancy - I didn't know their hives could get so huge! The guy that came to our house said some people have them living in their walls and they don't even know they're there.

Christie, neither did I and you can bet I was standing very far away as he was smoking them out! lol

Nancy