The farmer brought me a veil and a smoker. He brought extra frames, all sorts of equipment. We suited up and went to work on the bees. There were a few flying in and out; I smoked them. We lifted the lid, I blew smoke everywhere. No bees. Bees are gone. I asked what these twenty odd stragglers were doing hanging out in the hive. Apparently, harvesting the wax off the frames. But the hive has moved on.

Its just as well. The wax was not holding up in the frames. It was all slinking down, and maybe that's why they moved? We'll never know. But I loved having them there. And I enjoy thinking of them living wild in the forest somewhere nearby. God speed, little bees!