![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/48K7nsogJ7jbyHNf1vR3PAoCrFitsYGaZhAGuErn7AgPeHj3UTqbqdHTyntACsr15K.png)

There was quite a bit of drama around how we finally got control of our own bees this week. 

Some of you might recall me posting about 'our' beekeeper, a friend - well, now ex friend - that kept bees on our property. The deal was that we got 10 percent of the honey, whilst he looked after the bees, and took the rest. Sure - seemed like a good deal, since we were pretty busy (busy bees, in fact) and that we were a bit intimidated by bee keeping. 

Four years later, we got a grand total of 15 jars of waxy honey. Yes, you read that right. Whenever anyone elses hives seemed to be dripping gallons of the stuff, we got nada. 

When we asked about why this was, we copped it. Big time. 

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**Jamie in the new bee suit**
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Apparently, we were being 'rude' and 'demanding'. We tried to clarify that we were only asking, as we were genuinely puzzled. However, this wasn't good enough. Apparently he had put all his time and effort into the bees, and we were being selfish and thoughtless. So we left it. The bees buzzed, and he continued to neglect them, coming only four times in the following year to mow around the hives. 

I had refused to deal with him after that awful interaction, leaving it to Jamie, who was talking to beekeepers at work about the whole thing. They were a bit shocked at how he'd reacted (Jamie had shown them the texts) and said that beekeepers could be a wierd lot. They suggested he come move the hives, and be done with it. They'd give us a queen and some bees to get us started and help us do it ourselves. Fabulous - the guy HAD texted this: 

> **So let’s get this straight I invest in equipment and time to meet your expectations for what. Tell you what I will remove them then there is no issue.  Get someone else to meet your expectations  as obviously I just want to waste my time.**

Now, to be clear, our expectations were only that we'd receive honey, as that is what he said we'd get. We also were totally happy if we could have it politely explained to us what we were dealing with, and had only ever been polite in our interactions. The whole thing was making me sick. Never mind, we'd ask him to take the hives. 

> **Hi mate, hope things are well. We decided we'd get our own hives, as we are going to learn to do it ourselves. Do you might coming and getting them soon as we will be getting a new box in the next two weeks?**

And then it was on. After a couple of texts back and forth to arrange things, in which we remained business like and polite, we copped a complete rant off the guy: 

> **You guys are a piece of work. No 'how are you, how's the family', just get your bees and off you go. I hope you both get your karma you cretins. I'm going to shaft you.** 

Um. Ouch? Okay. Jamie immediately called him, deciding to be the bigger man. He asked him what he'd done wrong and pointed out he HAD said 'how are you?' and what had he done wrong? After another similar  rant, he hung up. 

Now, we totally understand if he was under stress, or busy, or whatever - we do have compassion. We thought he might be under business pressure perhaps. Maybe his hive aren't producing as much as he'd like. Maybe he's had a family drama. We did wish he'd just ring and speak to us, but he seemed to only want to text. But to speak to us like this was just the end of a long line of arrogant and sarcastic comments we'd already copped, such as when we asked if the bees were dead. No, they were hibernating, but we didn't know anything about bees. Rather than tell us this, he had to be sarcastic about it. His sense of humour I guess, but it felt nasty. So we were just hoping he'd get the bees (mind you, coming onto our property when we weren't around, which made us unhappy too) and disappear, even if he took all the honey. 

Which he did. 

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Because I came home yesterday, after a stressful day at work, and the whole property is swarming with bees. They were there when I pulled into the carpark,  swarming by the recycling, and when I went to pull in the washing, they were hitting my head and one got stuck in my hair, which totally freaked me out. I retreated inside til Jamie came home. I mean, I looked out the window and it was like attack of the killer bees out there. What he'd done was come *in the middle of the day* when the bees were out foraging, took the boxes and *our* blocks they were standing on, and disappeared. So when the bees came back to find their hive gone, they were *pissed*. 

Jamie ran out and put a cardboard box under the tree in the hope they'd retreat there. He rang his work colleague who came over at dusk with bee suits, a new hive and queen and some advice. Upon checking the box, they found a *huge* swarm of bees. The guy had shafted us alright - but, in many ways, he'd done us a favour. We now have enough bees to start up the new hive really well! 

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All we had to do was put some wet newspaper on top of the hive, tip the bees in, and wait til they eat there way through to the queen. She'll release pheromones and they'll get attached to her smell, and they'll all, hopefully, have a sweet old time in there. 

So all's well that ends well. Despite his intention to 'shaft us', in the end, we're happy - we got rid of the bastard bee keeper and gained some bees and some impetus to start our own bee keeping journey. 

### Do you keep bees? 



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# `With Love,` 


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