ghost hive

neither staal nor i had seen any springtime honey bee activity around the hive in the north wall of the mill office so we decided to have a closer look.  staal pulled nails and removed the board where the hive entry was and then peeled back the tar paper.  the hive was abandoned.  it was kind of eerie.  ghostly quiet and still and empty where it used to be literally buzzing with life.

it was quite beautiful too---honeycomb is one of those amazing things that's hard to get your head around---a natural wonder.

there were a couple of dead bees still clinging to the comb.

ghost bee

there are a lot of honey bees (as well as many native bees)  buzzing around the gardens so maybe the mill office colony just decided they were due for some new digs and are still in the neighborhood.