by Timothy Norray
Tim Norray here from a little town of Berne, New York (Albany County). My father Jack has kept bees for over 60 years and we try to maintain around 30-40 hives. Like most beekeepers, we often get calls for cutouts in houses, sheds or old barns, but this Fall we had two swarms which were found on the branches of trees.
Not so unusual I guess, but this one clung to a birds nest in a sumac tree. I know, its the end of October and awful late in the season to be catching swarms, but the homeowners never knew it was there or so close to the house until the leaves fell off and there it was. October 28th we cleared out the grape vines and much to our surprise, the birds nest still had eggs in it. So which came first?
The whole thing fits in an empty double deep, and we had an extra box full of honey we put with them to give them a chance to make it through Winter. I think we are going to try to keep this together and find a special place for it next year.
It’s not a big story but my kids thought it was sure cool and said I had to send it in to you.
