My First Bee Swarm
Friday, June 06, 2008
By Sean Bonney
I was always interested in social insects such as bees and ants. I thought bees the most interesting because of their value to people.
One day at the Civil Air Patrol, of which I am a member, I was talking to another cadet's parent about my interest in bees and found out that he was a beekeeper, and he invited me to the Long Island Beekeepers Club. That was Ray Lackey, Master Beekeeper and I have been working with him ever since.
On Mother’s Day, which also happened to be my 16th birthday my family and I were walking down Main Street in Cold Spring Harbor. On the way back to the car I saw a swarm of bees in the tree in the parking lot. I immediately called two beekeepers, Ray Lackey and Clifford Still, but neither were available to come there. So determined was I to get the swarm my brother-in-law Bill May and I created a make-shift beekeeping suit from a paintball mask, a jacket, gloves and lots of tape, compliments of a local store owner. I put handfuls of bees into a cardboard box we found in the garbage, taped it up and drove it to the Stills’ house and hived the bees. Now I have my first hive of my own bees. I have checked on them twice and am waiting for the queen to starting laying eggs.
I was always interested in social insects such as bees and ants. I thought bees the most interesting because of their value to people.
One day at the Civil Air Patrol, of which I am a member, I was talking to another cadet's parent about my interest in bees and found out that he was a beekeeper, and he invited me to the Long Island Beekeepers Club. That was Ray Lackey, Master Beekeeper and I have been working with him ever since.
On Mother’s Day, which also happened to be my 16th birthday my family and I were walking down Main Street in Cold Spring Harbor. On the way back to the car I saw a swarm of bees in the tree in the parking lot. I immediately called two beekeepers, Ray Lackey and Clifford Still, but neither were available to come there. So determined was I to get the swarm my brother-in-law Bill May and I created a make-shift beekeeping suit from a paintball mask, a jacket, gloves and lots of tape, compliments of a local store owner. I put handfuls of bees into a cardboard box we found in the garbage, taped it up and drove it to the Stills’ house and hived the bees. Now I have my first hive of my own bees. I have checked on them twice and am waiting for the queen to starting laying eggs.