I had a swarm (first I've ever seen) today with a new-this-spring colony of Buckfasts. I watched in amazement as the swarm transpired, and then I helplessly watched the swarm fly toward the woods, making the most marvelous buzz imaginable. I rushed to put together a hive box to attempt to capture the swarm, and at some point I realized that I had bought clipped queens this year. Sure enough, I looked in front of the hive and there was the queen down on the grass. I rushed to put my hive of new Permacomb inside the electric fence as close as I could get to the queen, and I put a few drops of lemon balm inside the hive. Then I went and picked up the queen with a plantain leaf and placed her in the hive. She marched right in. Within a few minutes, the swarm began to return, first checking back in the original hive, and then finding the new hive. Before long the hive was covered with bees, and while I was taking pictures of the action, the swarm started up again. This time the swarm started to form in a tree above the hives. After things settled down again, I looked in front of the hive again, and the queen (marked in green) was there, so I picked her up on a leaf and put her back in the hive. Again, she marched right in. I left for a minute while I closed the electric fence back up, and on a whim I went to check back in front of the hive. To my amazement, there was the queen again... back in the same place with other bees around her. Only this queen had faded WHITE paint on her back. Anyway, I said, "What the heck," and placed her in the hive too... and in she marched.
Don't these bees know the rules of how to be bees? 1.) No swarming in August... especially in their first year 2.)Only one queen per colony 3.) Only accept Permacomb sprayed with syrup or coated with wax. Sheesh! What is this world coming to?
They have settled into the new hive, so I will be needing to do some bee recombining, too, I suspect.
Twas a fun day!
GreenMountainRose
[ August 07, 2006, 03:29 PM: Message edited by: GreenMountainRose ]