The things you'll find!

Today I was cleaning out the hives to get them ready for the bees who will be arriving over the next couple of days. I opened the first hive and found this beautiful wolf spider just sitting there. She was moved over to an empty box and hopefully she will move on.

The next hive, when I opened it I thought I saw something poke it's head up but I thought I was seeing things. I pulled some frames out and found this nest. If you look close, it is made with alpaca fiber! The alpacas are a good distance away from the hives so this mama mouse has been working over time making the perfect nest.

When I pulled the box off, a mouse ran under the hive with 2 of her babies attached to her. She left these two behind! I quickly covered it back up and left the area. You can see the milk in their bellies so they were recently fed.

I left the entrance open slightly like she had it. I did check back a couple of hours later, she had returned the other 2 back to the nest thank goodness! I left her a couple pieces of kibble and will allow her to use the hive until she is done raising her babies!