Wife has been going around to the nursery's talking to them about bee-friendly plants. Apparently some of the local nursery owners have been interested in her stories about our bees, because they are remembering her.
Wife got a call from a local cemetery this afternoon about some bees that have been bothering folk. Wife handed me the phone, and the next thing I know wife and I have loaded some beek equipment into the truck, and we're heading to the cemetery.
It was a pretty small swarm, and easy to catch. They had chosen the lid to an underground water faucet, the kind used to turn a sprinkler system on and off.
Wife and I know more than folk who don't keep bees, so the cemetery workers were impressed. Actually, I think they were just impressed because of our fancy white hooded jackets, and stylish long sleeved gloves.
Capturing the bees went pretty well for a total newbie, probably pretty bad for someone who actually had done this before.
I scooped the bees out and dropped them into the Nuc I had brought. I did not put any brood or even drawn wax frames in the nuc, just some empty frames. And I took those out after the bees all crawled out the first time.
I had sprayed a bit of swarm commander into the hive before dumping the bees into the hive. When I pushed the bees back into the nuc and put the lid on, the queen (whom I never met) must have decided to try to make the best of a bad situation. She remained inside the nuc and the bees began to calmly make their way inside.
With most of the bees in the nuc, I closed front door to the nuc. Here's were I realized I really had the wrong kind of a nuc. I had one that is intended for raising a hive, not for capturing the swarm. With the front entrance closed, there was no air for the bees to circulate. It was a cool 70F by this time, and so I wasn't too worried about the head.
However, I now had a bunch of bees in a box that wasn't attached to the bottom, had a piece of wood and some sticks jammed into the entrance, and had an inner cover and telescoping cover for the top. Way too many disconnected pieces.
I got the bees to my truck, but accidentally slid the nuc off of the bottom board, thus opening a gap in the back and and front. A bunch of bees filled the air, while the cemetery worker scrambled to his car, and I tried to realign all of the floating pieces.
I know I still had the queen. The bees were now attaching themselves to my truck.
Wife and I made the trip home without incident. A few of the bees even rode in the cab with us.
I situated the nuc next to one of my hives, then opened the entrance. I added the sorry looking empty frames, and wife poured some sugar water into a frame feeder. Wife mentioned that she was pretty sure she saw the queen leave out the front entrance as I was opening the top to the nuc.
I think she must have gone the the hive next door to ask for a cup of honey and to introduce herself.
There were a lot of bees on the front porch of the neighboring hive all of a sudden. I didn't see vicious attacks, but it did look like there was some pushing and shoving.
The nuc was pretty empty when I peeked inside. So I'm sure the queen is gone.
I've learned to bring the right kind of nuc.
I think I might have stood a better chance of not losing the swarm if I had found the queen and put her in a cage. I don't have drawn comb available, and I'm not sure how to orchestrate the whole "grab a frame of brood and stick it in the box" thing. Besides the logistics of having both the nuc and the hive open at the same time, it, I'm worried that it is so early in the season, my hive would be able to stand the loss of a frame of brood.
This should have been easy. And it really was. I know it'll go more smoothly if I get a second chance, although I'm still not confident in my ability to keep the swarm.
It doesn't sound reasonable to me that the queen and her followers would have just flown into the hive next door. Has anyone else seen this happen? I didn't see a lot of dead bees on the ground this evening, but it was dark. I'll check in the morning.
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
