While I hadn’t planned on writing another beekeeping update this soon, Luke and I successfully caught a wild hive this weekend and we couldn’t wait to share the photos with all of you! My Great Uncle Cliff called us on Friday to let us know that he had found a wild hive for us in a thorn apple tree that stood along a hay field. Unsure of what we were getting into we loaded up our supplies on Sunday and ventured down to my hometown. Needless to say, we were astonished upon seeing the beautiful natural hive pictured above. It is truly amazing what bees are able to accomplish and build! This renegade contingent of bees must have split off of a larger hive earlier in the summer and set to work creating this exposed hive. Due to Michigan’s harsh winters and the lack of honey production/storage by this hive it was highly unlikely they would have survived on their own, as such we transferred the hive to an empty super and added a second super on top that was filled with empty drawn comb and a feeder filled with syrup. The drawn comb frames are devoid of honey, having been removed through extraction, but importantly have the empty comb intact. This way our newly transplanted bees will not have to put extra effort into producing wax and can focus on building up their winter honey stores. Regardless, we will need to bring full frames of honey from our Saginaw hives down to our wild bees to supplement them for the winter. We are excited to see how our wild bees fare in their new home and hopefully we can help them survive till next spring!
The Critiquing Chemist 
This bee searching adventure must be so fun when you actually find a hive! Like finding treasure?
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Agreed! My uncle was farming and found this one. We were really lucky!
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I hope there was no gaps in that suit!
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Haha! That suit is sealed tight! They were so calm though that my uncle in no suit at all walked right up to the hive in the middle of transferring them and didn’t get stung.
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geez. Brave move huh?
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What a beautiful wild hive! Amazing.
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Thanks! I just hope they can survive Michigan’s cold climate!
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That wild hive is beautiful!
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It really is! It is amazing what the little bees are able to accomplish!
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Gorgeous! That is so exciting and a new adventure!
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Thanks Maria! We are excited too!
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Oh wow! That’s pretty exciting – I’ve honestly never seen a hive like that before, so thanks for sharing your discovery c: Kinda looks like a sideways stack of pancakes, doesn’t it?
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Thank you Mr. Sax! We hadn’t either! Only in online photos taken in warmer climates. Yes! They do look like pancakes!
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That is amazing! How did you get it home? just in the car?
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We are leaving them be right now in their new home. With all the worker bees out scavenging we didn’t want them to come home to a missing hive. So we are letting them get acclimated and then we will move them once colder climates will keep all the bees home. And even then we will likely use a truck. 😀
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Good luck! I would be terrified, of course I have been dealing with scorpions and tarantulas for the past week. Maybe bees would be a calmer option 🙂
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Oh no! I would be so jumping knowing that those critters were hiding behind every corner!
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This is so interesting!
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Thank you Leah! We were really geeking out about finding them!
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Congratulations on your “capture” of this lovely hive. Hope it does well for you.
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Thank you! 🐝 I really hope they survive!
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Me too. For all our sakes, the bees’, yours, the planet’s. 🐝
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Yay for bees. How fun to find such a beautiful hive. Our bees need all the nurturing we can give them. 🙂
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Agreed! We baby them as much as we can!
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So stunning, and I totally agree at how amazing that bees can create these hives. I’m happy to be on this end of the frame sharing in the hive find 🙂
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I’m glad you enjoyed this post! We definitely geeked out finding this unique hive in Michigan. 🙂
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I’ve never seen a natural hive like that before. Really stunning! Living vicariously through you, as I doubt bee hives are in my near future. Do you by chance have chickens as well? Because I’ve kind of fallen in love with the idea of raising chickens this year. Two of our neighbors have free-roaming chickens and I love seeing them roaming around the neighborhood. 😀
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Thank you! Chickens would be quite the adventure! 😀 Personally I don’t see them in my future more from a personal bias. We had to raise them for a class in high school and I couldn’t get over the smell, despite being raised on a farm. They have quite a stink of their own.
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We saw free roaming chickens in Key West though and were quite charmed by them.
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Thank you for sharing this! I have never before seen an exposed hive. It is beautiful.
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You’re welcome Melissa! I’m happy you enjoyed the photos! It was even more stunning in person!
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[…] Honeybee Update #3 […]
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