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80K views 296 replies 72 participants last post by  IAmTheWaterbug 
#1 ·
earliest was 3/11 this year - 94401, saw a big one last week - 94063
 
#132 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

4/8/12 - Los Angeles, California. Bees have been swarming since FEBRUARY on our swarm calls out here. However, my big mamma jamma hive that was rockin' so hard - swarmed. :( Found out for sure today, think actual swarm was between 3/25/12-3/31/12. ZIP 90068 At least 4 open queen cells inside.
Haven't been able to check because apparently someone scheduled rain for only the days when I check my bees. Ah well, such is life. Off I go to catch a swarm from the call board to add to my poor tiny hive.
 
#134 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

While checking my city bees I noticed a large decline in the hive but I happened to look about 12' up in a pepper tree and seen the swarm hanging there, about a 6-7# swarm, along with about a softball sized swarm 5' off the ground. I grabbed the small swarm and put it back into the hive (what happens, happens) and shook the large swarm onto a sheet on the ground and they crawled into the hive. I had to keep shaking the branch to get more bees down, and ended up leaving about 1-2# worth in the tree.

Swarm: 9:45 AM, temp-65, light wind, Livermore CA, 94550
 
#135 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

4/9/12 - Received four swarm calls but couldnt get them due to work.

Stockton, CA - A swarm in a tree about 10' up, caller said about the size of a basketball and a half!
Stockton, CA - A swarm in a peach tree about 7' up, little smaller than a volleyball.
Stockton, CA - A swarm in a tree by a pre-school, about 10-12' up, close to size of basketball.
Manteca, CA- A swarm on a bush about 4' up, size of a basketball.

All between about 10 AM and 3:30 PM.
 
#137 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Four swarm calls yesterday here in CA!
1. Stockton, CA - a basketball sized swarm in a backyard hanging from a tree.
2. Manteca, CA - a basketball sized swarm clustering on some pallets in a hay trucking yard. (Caller called back and said it had left at 6:30 PM)
3. Lathrop, CA - A very large swarm that I had to use two deeps to contain! (7' up in a Japanese Plum tree)
4. Antioch, CA - A decent soccerball sized swarm on a large chunk of concrete in a debris pile.
5. A guy called about a cut out of a swarm taking up residence in his wall, im not going to take this on as I have all the swarms I need!!

Weather was about 70+ degrees, very light wind. Most call were between 10:30 AM and 3 PM.
I only retrieved one swarm as my job and kids baseball game are higher priorities!
 
#141 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

5/3/12 Stockton, CA - Picked up about a 6# swarm about 4' high in a bush, easy in, easy out. Called at about 11 AM. Partly cloudy, no wind.

5/5/12 Pleasanton, CA - Person called about a swarm in his tree but I couldnt make it to pick it up. Called at 2:30 PM. Sunny, warm, windy.
 
#143 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

6/2/12 5:45pm swarm from hive in apiary clustered on my apricot tree about 12' up. This morning after working a 20 hr shift the night before, I climbed up on a ladder and cut them down and shook them into 2 8-Frame medium boxes. This was the 'real deal' as opposed to the 'rehearsal' cluster the other day[same tree]. They left later on 6/2 than they did on 6/1 and remained there until this morning when I sprang into action. I checked them when I got home at 3+am; I had received a call from my wife while working that a swarm event was occuring..... She's my 'bee mentor'/watcher!!
 
#144 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

6/10/12 Swarm#2 in same apricot tree as Swarm#1 on 6/1/12[few posts up], hived quickly once spotted when we got back from lunch.

6/11/12 Swarm#3 again in apricot tree, waited until evening to hive this colony. I'd run out of frames, so had to run up to Mann Lake in Woodland, CA from some prefabbed supers, painted with frames. Did the run in just over 2 hrs. and had the cluster in the new boxes by 7pm.

I'm concerned about Swarm#1... See this post for further details.
 
#145 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

6/11/12 - Got a call from a home owner about a rather large swarm that had moved into their hot tub. Went over to inspect and found about half the swarm on the outside and the rest of them inside the pump compartment. The owners said she got to watch the swarm land on the side of the tub and she promptly snapped a picture and showed me, its about a 7 pounder atleast! Will be removing them in about 40 minutes.

This year has been crazy for swarms!! I have two other established colonies to remove on Friday, one is in an irrigation box and the other is in a tractor tire, if everything goes right they should be just right to replace my laying worker hives I dumped out last week!! Will also be moving the hives this weekend to another yard in prep for star thistle!! Seen some plants starting to head out already!
 
#146 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

7/11- Caught a small grapefruit sized swarm in my bee yard that is from my second year hive, marked queen and all!! I put them in a hive and added a couple drawn frames and a frame of brood from another colony and a frame of honey/pollen. See what happens!

Livermore, CA, 94550
 
#147 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Caught a volleyball sized swarm today in Livermore, CA. The swarm was actually seen on a cyclone fence gate near our job site yesterday and I figured they would be gone, but they were there again today so I decided to give them a home since I knew they wouldnt last long trying to build comb next to a side walk!! Its amazing how many people walked within three feet of it and it was about 5' off the ground and they never even seen it, including a co-worker who unloaded a piece of equipment right next to it and didnt see it either!!LOL Anyhow, they are a VERY light bee resembling sunkists and very mellow. Oh ya, spotted the queen and when I returned with the queen catcher she had disappeared into the mass!!
 
#149 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Picked up a football sized swarm on a DC-3 at work (Long Beach, Ca) . Put them in a spare medium box with half a comb of honey and wished them luck. Sadly, I don't have a spare frame of brood to give them as my other hive seems mostly honey bound and slow to build fresh comb.
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