Chicken Butts and Bees Knees

A week ago C found a great deal on an old Craftsman table saw. It's a work horse and exactly what he needed for building cameras. I used that as an opportunity to finagle my way into expanding the flock. . . "Yeah, sure, you should get the table saw. It's just what you need! Guess what I need?"

When I got the okay to add some more girls to the household I searched daily on Craigslist for a listing with just the right wording. . . "reducing our flock size" "getting rid of our flock" etc. I wanted chickens that the owners didn't want anymore. Kind of like picking up a chicken from a shelter. Yesterday I found 2 gals who were the last 2 of a flock. We went to get them, took them home and were getting them adjusted when I heard a loud buzz. Usually the bees in the house are agitated and flying all around the entrance when I hear that sound, but I didn't see any excitement.

Then I saw this.

We promptly checked the hive to see what it needed to entice them to their home. I tried flipping through the only

beekeeping book I could find (we have several. . . where are they?) but remembered why I never did well on tests--I do not perform well under that sort of pressure. I hopped on twitter, asked for advice and called a friend that is a county beekeeper. The hive wasn't set up for them to move in yet (cardboard blocking the entrance? doh!) so we got it set up as best we could then decided to move it as close to the swarm as possible. That's as far as we got before dark, then a certain precious little girl got cranky-tired. She dictates bedtime around our house; we strictly follow the "sleep when she sleeps" mantra. In the dark, with a softly snoring M at our sides, we whispered whether to sneak out and try to brush them in the hive. We didn't do anything except toss and turn, both equally excited and nervous about the chance that we might have a hive of bees in the near future.

Maybe if they move in and settle down nicely I'll order one of these!