Hey There, Honey

The woman expressed interest in her sheep as well, and Corbie who was always willing to talk about her stock, large or small, was happy to oblige. "I keep a triple purpose breed, so wool and meat and milk," she told her. "Most of the young males get butchered going into winter to keep the size of the flock manageable, so they have enough to eat and they don't injure one another fighting over the ewes. Or injure the ewes either, for that matter. We keep the best males to trade with other flocks for unrelated males too, or we'd start having a major problem with inbreeding. Sheep aren't very..." She paused, considering her words. "Discerning. I get most of my trade from wool, though, there are a lot of folks in the northern region who really need good quality wool to be comfortable in the coldest areas."

As she'd spoken she'd begun to walk very casually, listening to the soothing drone of the swarm and triangulating its position by how quiet or loud the sound became as she moved. On the last word she stopped, and brushed aside a branch. And there, in a quiescent clump of black and yellowish brown, was the swarm. Now, the older woman didn't have anything to keep them in yet, which was a mild problem, but not unsolvable. "You could put them in a hollow tree or stump and hope they built their hive there. If it's a good place, then they would, for sure. But to harvest the honey from it you would need to break apart the hive, and it would weaken the bees since they would need to repair the damage to the comb. They might not have enough to make it through winter, or might find it inhospitable enough to leave. I used to keep them in skeps, which had many of the same issues, since you can't get the comb out easily without damaging the hive. I keep them in boxes now with wooden frames with loops on the side so I can pull each thing of comb out individually from the side of the box and not disturb any other comb. I commission them from a trader who gets them from some primates down south." Or rather, Tam had been doing all the trading and commissioning up to now - it was certainly time she took charge of that herself. "We can trap them in a box or pot, or even a bag for now, and if you want we can send word back to my friend Tam who is watching the sheep for me and get an extra hive here for you."