Brian, I'm similar to you I think when it comes to enjoying more of a rural lifestyle. My family farms 3000 acres of rice in CA. With farming comes contact with animals, birds and insects. I like them all. I've raised ducks, chickens, pheasants, injured barn owls, short eared owls, and redtail hawks. I have nesting boxes for barn owls that are used always. Even have a pair of great horned owls that use one of my boxes every year. I tell this to birders and they refuse to believe that great horned owls use my box. Oh well. Doesn't matter. I know. 5 years in a row now. They're my favorites btw. Top of the food chain they are. I have a great collection of pigeon bands that I've collected from below this nesting box. Minus the pigeons. Anyhow... Now I have a bee hive.....
Am I attached to my bees? Yes! My 12 yr. old Border Collie died recently, and so did my 12 yr. old cat that I rescued from under a bridge where some dirtbag dumped the whole litter. I retreived the whole litter, kept one and found homes for the rest. I have no pets as of now beyond these bees. I like pets. Should I have put them in framed supers? Yes. Did I have bee knowledge at that time? Not an ounce. I do now from from the info I've received here. Don't fault me for being a rookie. Ya gotta start somewhere. My 'mess' hopefully will become a non-mess next spring. That's always been my plan. If I can raise Raptors, I can raise bees. I think. We'll see. Both aren't friendly or appreciative of what I do for them btw
Robo, thanks for the reply. If you read above you'll see my beekeeping skills were non-existent at the time of capturing this wild hive. I honestly had help from someone who supposedly knew his stuff. I do know now he doesn't, but won't go there. His intentions were honest though. There's much better info here. Live and learn. Thanks for the info about flipping the box over. I think Brian or someone else said this also. Glad I now have a suit. Flipping this hive over sounds scary. It's VERY heavy and very full of bees, but I'll do it. It's gotta be easier than having mama great horned owl clicking her beak at me with bad intentions on her mind.
Thanks for the replies! Points taken.
Jeff