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Boy, Are We in Trouble.
6 Jul 2006 11:27:25 -0700
rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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sriddles...
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DH ordered a new queen bee and it came in today's mail. They come in a
little cage about the size of a small matchbox, with 4 or 5 drones in
with her.
Monique Y. Mudama...
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A few months ago, one of my co workers got a phone call -- bees were
swarming in a tree outside his house. Apparently the above had
happened, but they hadn't found a suitable place to re-hive wherever
they came from, so they were hanging out in the tree while scouts
looked for suitable hive locations.
Fortunately they had moved on by evening. If not, my co worker had
found a bee keeper willing to come get them -- I wonder how that would
work.
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Enfilade...
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I didn't realize bees could be mailed!
Good luck on finding your queen. I'm sure Kumani and Tyche would
consider her a tasty treat (I'm glad ours have never encountered
bees--they'd get stung for sure).
Takayuki...
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I've even heard that baby chicks are sent by mail. I can't even
imagine that!
Enfilade...
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I have a friend who has mailed baby snakes (non venomous), but I
imagined a bee would be more squish-able, and more easily damaged by
getting shaken around, than a snake.
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sriddles...
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Oh, yes. In the spring here if you go get your mail early you can hear
the chicks in the back at the post office waiting to be picked up!
DH ordered a whole hive last year IIRC it was about 30,000 bees, in a
box with mesh sides. They called us at 7 a.m. from the post office.
They were wanting them picked up pretty badly I think.
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sriddles...
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That happens a lot in the spring. They're pretty cooperative when
they're swarming, they're easy to get. With all the talk about
Africanized bees though, I hate it when people call like that. I wish
DH would just buy the domestic ones and not gather wild ones.
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sriddles...
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Found them. Still in the cage, on the pantry floor. I guess they were
playing hockey-puck on the kitchen floor and knocked it under the
pantry door. They don't look any worse for the experience, thankfully!
jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt...
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That's a relief!!
I guess you guys keep bees? Or your DH does?
sriddles...
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DH does. I just help with the processing. Even when the cats went
outdoors on their own, they never went to the apiary. Boots would sit
at the gate and wait on DH to come back. That's what surprised me
about them bothering the queen cage.
There's one hive that has been doing poorly that he had to re-queen.
Either the queen had died or was just not a good queen. That's why he
ordered a new queen. They send her in a package with a few drones to
take care of her on the trip.
Yowie...
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Dumb bee question:
If its a poorly performing queen, what happens to her whenthe new queen
comes along? And how does the new queen know to set up shop there rather
David Stevenson...
than finding some other place?
David Stevenson...
Since hte hive isn't of hte new queen's genetic relations, what happens to
them? And what happens to the drones that accompanied her on her travels?
David Stevenson...
David Stevenson...
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I was going to ask that!
You have done a good job, not showing my ignorance here, Yowie!
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Why does she need to be escorted with drones?
David Stevenson...
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Oh, I know that. Women just need someone when they travel to say that
their hair looks great.
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How does the place your DH bought it from breed queens instead of workers or
drones?
David Stevenson...
Yowie, just curious.
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Monique Y. Mudama...
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So glad that all the critters in the house are unharmed!
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I opened up the package to give her a little water and just laid the
little cage on the bar. I've been outside quite a while, came in and
the papers are on the floor and the little cage is totally gone. Gone.
I can't find it anywhere. I even crept in the bedroom and shook the
covers to see if one of the cats took it in there.
*Somebody* carried it off. I'm not naming any names
jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt...
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Oopsie! Hope you find the bees. And I hope your kitties, naughty as
they may be, don't get stung.
jmcquown...
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Sounds rather like she's getting a divorce and taking half the "assets" :)
John F. Eldredge...
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This is how the colony reproduces, splitting off a daughter colony to
set up residence somewhere else.
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sriddles...
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Heh. They don't have to worry about divorce. The drones primary reason
for existance is to mate with the queen. The ones that are successful
die right after mating. The ones that aren't are allowed to hang around
and protect the queen until fall. Then she drives them out of the hive
and won't let them back in. They don't work, so they are kind of
worthless members of society, so to speak.
Sherry
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(bootsiebootsiebootsie) but the cage is only secure by a plug that is
made out of sugar.
Well, off to look some more. I never dreamed they would get on the bar
Monique Y. Mudama...
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Eep! That sounds like a mess.
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and mess with that.
sriddles...
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LOL! You are right! I told him about the missing queen ordeal when he
got up. I also told him I thought it was probably Bootsie because she
was the only one not sleeping when I went outside. He said, "You always
blame EVERYTHING on Bootsie." Then turned over to Boots and said,
"Booty-girl, mommy's talking doo-doo about you again. I know you didn't
have ANYTHING to do with it."
Tanada...
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Bad Sherry, Bootsie would never get into anything of her paw's. LOL.
Christina Websell...
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Aww. I'm so sorry. Nuele is a beekeeper and I know how important this is.
I hope you find the queen hiding in your curtains (drapes) or something.
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Shiral...
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Thankfully, yes! Although I'll bet if they could talk they'd have a
few choice words for you. =o) They could also probably tell you who the
Hockey Player(s) were.
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Jo Firey...
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So glad they are present and accounted for. About the only thing you can
say for sure about cats, is if they can they probably will. Unless you
expect or want them to. Applies to darn near everything.
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Adrian A...
polonca12000...
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What a relief!
Best wishes,
Polonca and Soncek
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Takayuki...
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LOL! That must have been a fun toy for whoever it was.
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Rob is the same way about Tanada. No matter how involved she is in
destroying something, the other cats either did it, or made her do it.
Pam S. who knows Tanada does some of it
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