Buzzing In The Corn Crib

We have a corn crib. One day we hope to restore it.

Unfortunately our plans have been on hold ever since moving to the farm a year ago last June.

The reason?

BEES. 

We knew the bees were living in the wall of the building but weren't about to try and evict them.

We want the bees to stay around but we would really like our building back.

Last February on a very cold day DH sawed out part of the inner wall to see what was in there. He came across this...

( You can click on the pictures to enlarge them )

He saw no live bees.

He asked me to come out and take a picture of the comb and since it was winter I knew there would be no problem with the bees if there were any.

I'm afraid of bees.

As I got closer to the hive to take a picture I thought I could hear a buzzing sound. DH who has severe hearing loss could not hear anything. I put my head up against the wall that hadn't been taken apart and sure enough there was a distinct buzzing.

DH proceeded to cut more of the wall out

and this is what he found...

We decided to just leave them until he made a hive for them and then we'd move them but we just

had too many other things to do around

the farm so we just left them alone.

A couple of days ago DH came into the house and asked to use my camera. He didn't say what he was doing but he came back and said..."put this on your blog"!

I uploaded the pictures to my computer

and this is what I saw.

I couldn't believe it!

This was a warm day and those bees didn't even fly when Keith climbed up into the crib.

And look at the size of that honey comb!

This thing is about 3 layers thick

and if you look closely you can see honey seeping

out between the boards!

We have no idea of how big this hive is but you can see

the honey and bees in the cracks in about a 3 foot wide area and I have NO idea how far up into the wall it goes.

This summer I saw bees swarming around the top of the corn crib door and also around the peak of the building so I'm sure the hive is way bigger than we think.

So...I guess we won't be restoring the old place

for a while....but I think maybe we should start

reading up on becoming bee keepers!

What do you think?

Enjoy your weekend.

Maura :)