Author Topic: 1st swarm ever  (Read 2112 times)

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Offline cpekarek

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1st swarm ever
« on: May 11, 2017, 07:17:10 pm »
I shared this on another site but figured I would post here also.

I had an interesting day. I work at a golf course and that's where my hives are located. As I was driving up to my office around noon, I saw a cloud of bees swirling around. I have never seen a swarm but I figured that was what I was seeing. I came upon them right before they picked a spot to rest. After about 10 minutes they started to settle into a dense 6' high bush right outside my office. It took another 15 minutes and they were in 3 loose clumps on the bush. I quickly grabbed a 5 frame deep box I had built for a future nuc, put in a drawn frame and a frame of open brood I took from another hive and filled it out with 3 frames of blank foundation. I cut the branches with bees off the shrub and shook them into the box and closed it up. There were still a few thousand bees swirling around the bush but I had to attend a meeting offsite so I left the box sitting on he ground near the bush. I came back 3 hours later and the bees seem to be working the box like any normal hive.

I feel like I was really lucky to be able to capture the swarm so easily. I had to go out of town for 3 days and didn't have time to move the box. Hopefully the bees will still be there when I return. I will need to open the hive I suspect the swarm came from and see what is the status.

I never knew it would be so easy to catch a swarm.  :D

Offline Green bee

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Re: 1st swarm ever
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2017, 09:35:26 pm »
Nice thanks for sharing keep us post!  :)
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein

Offline CBT

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Re: 1st swarm ever
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2017, 10:22:28 pm »
It's a great feeling. Hope you get many more.

Offline Perry

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Re: 1st swarm ever
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2017, 10:23:40 pm »
Nice catch. Some can be easy, many are not. ;D
Hopefully you can get them transferred quickly, swarms I have caught in nuc boxes tend to not like the small area and can sometimes head for greener pastures.
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