Z's Happy Bees

Z's Happy Bees Welcome to our Apiary Adventure! We are hobby beekeepers that do this as a family!

06/17/2026

Releasing the Queen from yesterday’s squirrel condo eviction. If I spot the Queen, I put her in a little cage. The other bees take care of her through the little holes. I do this to keep her safe during the move. Now she is free to lay thousands of eggs!

A swarm of bees decided a squirrel condo would make an ideal home. I can’t blame them, the homeowner had made it and it ...
06/17/2026

A swarm of bees decided a squirrel condo would make an ideal home. I can’t blame them, the homeowner had made it and it was really cool! I was able to gently pry the back off to get access. I alternated scooping bees and cutting the delicate brand new wax comb. I spotted the Queen on the second piece of comb. Put her in a cage for safekeeping. Since this was an active colony not a swarm, it took longer for the bees to figure out they had a new home. Once the sun set I was able to take them in their new box out to Floret to put their pollination skills to use!

This swarm catch was probably the most dangerous one I’ve done. Standing on the top rung of the ladder is not recommende...
06/11/2026

This swarm catch was probably the most dangerous one I’ve done. Standing on the top rung of the ladder is not recommended. I did get the Queen! I also spotted lots and lots of eggs!

I got a call early this morning from a fellow beekeeper about a ground swarm at the 7-11 in Mount Vernon. I quickly grab...
06/08/2026

I got a call early this morning from a fellow beekeeper about a ground swarm at the 7-11 in Mount Vernon. I quickly grabbed a box and headed in to town. I set the bottom board down and grabbed the hive box. They were already crawling up the ramp. I spotted the Queen in the cluster and encouraged her to climb up and in! Probably the fasted swarm catch I’ve ever done! Back home and in the apiary in under an hour!

06/05/2026

This is one of the reasons I LOVE beekeeping. It’s so interesting and amazing. The aggressive colony that I tried to requeen unfortunately rejected the beautiful Queen I gave them. Even after all that careful introduction I did! Oh well. Anyway, they made a new one. Here she is running around with evidence of her mating flight still showing out of her abdomen!! I am so excited to see this colony finally turning it around. This colony is still more aggressive than I’d like but they only show it when I inspect them. They don’t bug (Lol) us out in our yard anymore.

Swarm catch in Mount Vernon, this was a large bivouac which was a challenge to get to. The roof access was up two differ...
06/04/2026

Swarm catch in Mount Vernon, this was a large bivouac which was a challenge to get to. The roof access was up two different ladders. So I stuck with my little giant ladder. I was able to scoop the bivouac into a box pretty easily, but quite a few bees kept trying to go under a piece of flashing. I’m not sure if this is an established colony and the swarm bivouacked right outside their entrance or the swarm landed here and were just starting to make it a home.

Remember the swarm that I caught in the apple tree? The one I had to re-catch when most of them went back to the tree. I...
06/03/2026

Remember the swarm that I caught in the apple tree? The one I had to re-catch when most of them went back to the tree. I had noticed wax on the branches and knew that this swarm had been in the tree for a few days. I had my suspicions about this queen. It’s unusual for a swarm to stay bivouacked for more than a day or two. I wondered if the queen was old or injured and couldn’t fly. Today I inspected them and discovered quite a few supersedure cells. I looked all over and couldn’t find a queen. I found larva at different stages as well as supersedure cells so I know that they had a queen when I brought them home. But for some reason, they no longer had one. I got down on my hands and knees and searched the ground in front of the hive because sometimes you can find a dead queen. Bees are very clean and they carry the dead out of the hive. Sure enough, I found her and it looks like she had a crooked wing, so she probably was unable to fly and the colony sensed that she was damaged so like true Spartans they killed her and are starting again.

Blackberries are starting to bloom. Yesterday evening, after I got home from that chimney swarm catch, I put honey super...
06/01/2026

Blackberries are starting to bloom. Yesterday evening, after I got home from that chimney swarm catch, I put honey supers on!

I got a call this afternoon for a swarm that had landed on a chimney pipe. When I got there I found that the bivouac had...
06/01/2026

I got a call this afternoon for a swarm that had landed on a chimney pipe. When I got there I found that the bivouac had moved inside the pipe. 😕 I was not optimistic about this being a successful retrieval. I was able to reach in and scoop out about half the bees. I was able to scoop out about 25% more with a modified tiki torch basket that the homeowner rigged up. I also poured a bit of “honey bandit” on some moss and dropped it down below the bees. They don’t like the smell and will run away from it. I must have scooped up the Queen because the bees that were still in the pipe started crawling up and out and flying into the box! I am extremely happy that I was able to give these bees a new home and the homeowner was spared the complications of a bees nest in their chimney!

Mostly posting this so I can come back later and check the date. 😂 Another oxalic acid v***r treatment. This is very eff...
05/29/2026

Mostly posting this so I can come back later and check the date. 😂 Another oxalic acid v***r treatment. This is very effective on mites that are on bees or crawling around the hive. It is ineffective on mites that are munching away on larvae which are developing in a capped cell. This is why I repeat treatments.

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Mount Vernon, WA
98274

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