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Bee colony making a home at Nature Center
Local beekeeper Heather Gottemoeller found herself in a sticky situation after seeing a facebook post from a concerned person who saw a swarm of bees at Poe Hollow Park.
In the interest of public safety, she went out to the park to collect the swarm and took them to her home apiary that night. Gottemoeller contacted Conservation Director Travis Scott the next morning to let him know she had been there to re-home the swarm.
A few days later, Gottemoeller received a call from Scott about a small cluster of bees inside the The Dragoon Trace Nature Center. After discussing several possibilities, Gottemoeller decided to let Scott handle the situation.
The Ringgold County Conservation Board announced the nature center was closed on Tuesday, May 27 to address honey bees swarming in and around the building.
Gottemoeller received a call from Scott again when he noticed a swarm of bees on a metal flower decoration outside the nature center.
“That was a pretty easy extraction,” stated Gottemoeller, “The bees were so incredibly gentle.”
She brought out a bee hive box with established honey comb to entice the bees inside. Situating the box on the ground, she put the metal flower on top of the box, shook it gently, and some of the bees fell into the box.
The following day, Scott noticed another swarm of bees on a tree branch above ground and contacted Gottemoeller yet again.
Since the swarm was up high and away from where people would be frequenting, they decided to let the bees go and establish a hive.
“He [Travis] knew that bees are really important to every ecosystem,” said Gottemoeller. “There was a high likelyhood they would find a new hive nearby.”
Bee colony reproduction
Seeing a swarm of bees is actually a good sign, because it is essential for bee colonies to reproduce, live and survive.
When a colony grows beyond the capacity of its home, bees swarm to resolve a lack of space and split their colony.
Once a colony of bees decide it needs to swarm, future queens are prepared in queen cups. Before new queens emerge, the existing queen and roughly half of the bees in the existing colony leave the hive to search for a new home.
The first queen in the old hive to hatch, makes sure she becomes the only adult queen, and the remaining bees consider her their new queen.
Swarming typically occurs between April and June each year.
Honey bee relocation
After seeing multiple swarms and removing honey bees from inside the nature center several times, Scott called in additional assistance in early June.
“They actually swarmed a total of four times,” stated Scott.
He suspected a colony had settled into the eave peak of the nature center.
Scott and Gottemoeller connected again, and began forming a plan to find the hive and re-home the colony.
Gottemoeller sent out a group message to some other local beekeepers, including her mentor.
On Sunday, June 8, Gottemoeller and her husband Adam, her mentor, Tim Kalb, and his youngest son Isaac, suited up with Scott to find and relocate the honey bee colony.
The team began by removing the wooden roof soffit, which exposed the hive.
Tim and Travis began carefully cutting out the comb while watching for the queen. The combs were then transfered to empty bee hive frames and secured with rubber bands.
Once they found the queen, they put her in a clip, and swept as many of the bees toward her and into the new hive as possible.
The local beekeepers assisted Scott in transferring the colony into an assembled hive, transporting the bees, and assembling the hive at Gottemoeller’s apiary.
“We all were sticky but very pleased with this operation,” stated Heather. “While I don’t suppose it’s something I’ll ever do again, it was a wonderful and truly amazing experience!”
Only one bee sting was sustained in the process, as the group made sure to use appropriate bee handling equipment.
After the bees were cleared out, Scott blocked any potential openings, used spray foam to seal the peak of the nature center building, and re-enclosed the underside of the roof.
Local honey bee operations
This is the 4th year Kalb has been keeping bees. He started in 2021 while living in Cedar Rapids.
“I got started because I had a co-worker who told me about his sister-in-law having bees. It got me curious and it just stayed in the back of my mind,” shared Kalb.
He ended up knowing someone else that kept bees and they invited Kalb to help.
“I followed them to where they keep their two hives and when they opened it up, I was hooked,” Kalb said. “I knew this is what I wanted to do.”
Kalb did some research and homework and a year and a half later he jumped in and now really enjoys keeping bees.
“Watching them fly plant to plant and collect pollen and nectar and making wax and honey, it’s amazing,” says Kalb. “It’s very therapeutic, despite getting stung [occasionally].
He is working on building up the number of bee hives he keeps and plans to start a business. Typically he harvests honey late summer and early fall, and sells honey when he has it.
You can find Kalb on instagram @hitching_post_farms or call him at 319-558-8828.
Gottemoeller and Kalb met while working at Ringgold County Hospital, and Kalb encouraged her to get into beekeeping.
This is now Gottemoeller‘s third year keeping bees. She had four hives going into last winter and lost all of them.
“It was a really hard winter for bees,” said Gottemoeller.
She prefers to re-home bee swarms at night when they are calmer, and does not typically go to great heights to reach swarms, as she doesn’t use a ladder.
Gottemoeller can be found on facebook by search Homestead Heather’s Hobbies or by calling 641-464-6320.
