A little of this....a little of that

After receiving a phone call from a fellow beekeeper regarding a swarm that had landed in his yard. I got to thinking how i would love to capture a swarm of (other than my own) honey bees. I normally have a empty box sitting in the bee yard for those "just in case" moments that happen to come along once in a while, but thought i should get a little more serious.
Earlier in the season i purchased a nuc box, with bottom board and inside cover, which sat in my bee yard empty. So after my friend captured his swarm, i went out and loaded it full of drawn out sticky frames...that should do it. I had also picked up some lemongrass essential oil,  from what i read its a similar smell to the pheromones the queens put off. So i baited the box with some lemongrass oil on a cotton ball.
In the mean time James and I started cleaning up the firewood area next to the bee yard and there was a stump from a bug kill pine still standing there. After a little discussion, we decided to put the swarm box on top of it. 

"Swarm box"

That night i was reading something on one of the beekeeping sites about swarm bait. This person mixed olive oil, beeswax and lemon grass oil together and made a swarm bait from that. The lemon grass doesn't evaporate as quick as it does if you just dribble it on a cotton ball. So i gave it a try.  

Ingrediants for the swarm lure

I might of added a little too much beeswax but its not a big deal, i just need to slightly warm in to make it spreadable.,

So i am bound and determined to "conquer" the smoker. I can get it lit but when i need it, its out. So because of that, i rarely i use it.  But there are times when a little smoke goes a long way. So after reading lots of articles, watching you tube videos, i have decided to try burlap.
Its old school but works great, they say. 
Well it just happens, down the road a few blocks is the home of a coffee roaster. Her coffee rocks and best of all, all her beans still come in burlap sacks. So i asked to buy 4 sacks, (which should last 2 life times). When i got them home i could feel coffee beans in a couple of the sack. So i poured them into a pan. They are odd looking little greenish colored things, they look or smell nothing like the coffee we all know so well.
Well that night, i wondered if I could roast these little green beans. Turns out its simple. So that night i roasted my beans (all 1 cup of them). The next day we ground some up and sampled them....and they were pretty darn good. So dark and oily....yum

Home roasted coffee beans

Anyways, its been a fun week of trying new things. The bees are happy, the queen is laying good, i am ready if a swarm happens by and while i sit and make notes, we can enjoy a cup of home roasted coffee. Enjoy your summer, will chat again soon
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