Bees, Hives and Impromptu Homeschooling

Sunday afternoon we had a three hour drive to get home from a weekend with friends. We stopped on the way to buy a rabbit for Wesley's "business." (hard to have baby bunnies without a male and a female) The farmer was just about to "catch" a swarm of wild bees as we got there. I wanted to get right back in the car, but Philip wanted to see the "catch!" (and people think I am the curious one of the family!!!) I reluctantly followed the procession - two farmers carrying stepladders, Philip, and the kids - to the "bee tree." The bee tree was just an apple tree. The bees had stopped to rest on some of its branches on their search for the perfect home.
The beekeeper, Michel, had everything he needed, and had obviously caught a few swarms of bees before. The only thing he didn't have was protective gear. Said he didn't need it, and didn't mind being stung now and then. He thinks bees can feel or smell fear and that causes them to sting. (he did get stung a few times but mostly because the bees got caught under his clothes)
The bees were on three different branches so Michel had some work to do to get all (well, ok, most) of the bees into his temporary hive. Amazingly, once the queen bee was in Michel's hive, they played follow the leader and couldn't get in fast enough!
So thanks to my curious husband, the kids got a great lesson about bees!!!

The first bees aren't sure what to do.

Michel was pretty sure the queen was in the last swarm.

Michel couldn't get the whole branch so he knocked the swarm into a bucket. (He made us all back up before he did that though)

And now that the queen is with them, the bees are all headed for the hive.