Wild Honeybees

As I've mentioned in my last couple of postings, the end of Summer is approaching as the days get shorter and the local wild honeybees are taking advantage of the fields of goldenrod in the neighborhood.



There has been a lot of news lately about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, but the wild honeybees in our neighborhood are doing quite well.

Earlier this Summer I had a swarm of wild honeybees land in a tree on the driveway to our barn. This swarn started a small colony in the tree which is only 100 feet from my garden.

During the Summer I continued to notice a constant "buzz" in the woods next to our cabin and tracked down a second bee tree in the neighborhood. This is a much larger colony with hundreds of bees coming/going through the one entrance. A view looking up the tree to the entrance. 



A more straight on shot of the small entrance to the hive. I needed a ladder to get this shot and was close enough to smell the honey.



Just a few weeks ago, I was checking some of the pipeline reclamation work through our woods and found this third bee tree. At first I thought this was a small colony  of honeybees due to the few bees at the entrance. Upon later inspection of this bee tree I discovered at least 3 different entrances to the hive, which covered a distance of 15 to 20 feet, with the main entrance at the top, 35 feet off the ground.

A view of wild honeybees at the smaller, lower entrance to the hive.