While I hadn’t planned on writing another beekeeping update this soon, Luke and I successfully caught a wild hive this weekend and we couldn’t wait to share the photos with all of you! My Great Uncle Cliff called us on Friday to let us know that he had found a wild hive for us in a thorn apple tree that stood along a hay field. Unsure of what we were getting into we loaded up our supplies on Sunday and ventured down to my hometown. Needless to say, we were astonished upon seeing the beautiful natural hive pictured above. It is truly amazing what bees are able to accomplish and build! This renegade contingent of bees must have split off of a larger hive earlier in the summer and set to work creating this exposed hive. Due to Michigan’s harsh winters and the lack of honey production/storage by this hive it was highly unlikely they would have survived on their own, as such we transferred the hive to an empty super and added a second super on top that was filled with empty drawn comb and a feeder filled with syrup. The drawn comb frames are devoid of honey, having been removed through extraction, but importantly have the empty comb intact. This way our newly transplanted bees will not have to put extra effort into producing wax and can focus on building up their winter honey stores. Regardless, we will need to bring full frames of honey from our Saginaw hives down to our wild bees to supplement them for the winter. We are excited to see how our wild bees fare in their new home and hopefully we can help them survive till next spring!