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huge swarm - Avon, IL

3K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  shannonswyatt 
#1 ·
Got an email Saturday from a lady that I talked to about a week ago about setting up a Hogan trap to catch some starts in the spring. After seeing pictures of the tree and seeing the entrance was 30'+ up I told her to enjoy her free pollinators. I did ask if they ever saw any swarms coming from the tree thinking it might be a good place to put some traps up. They said they hadn't seen any swarms. Well, the email Saturday had an attached photo of a HUGE swarm on a small maple tree about 30' from the tree with the hive already in it. It's an hour drive to their place but for a swarm that size I gladly accepted. When I shook the bees off the branch sprung back and I couldn't reach it without a step stool anymore. I brought a scale with me and did some before and after weights. I didn't write down the before weight and had two numbers stuck in my head. Using the larger weight as the starting point gets me to 8.6 lbs, the other number is 10.6 lbs, either way, that's a LOT of bees. I took my last two mediums with me and nailed a sheet of plywood on the bottom and brought a screened top since it was so hot Saturday and they'd have to survive the hour plus ride home in the trunk. Well, the screened top didn't work so good, the bees settling into the box weren't finding the entrance so I took a couple nuc lids and covered the screen. Strapped the two boxes together and off we went. About 20 mins into the ride home my 5 year old says "Dad, there's bees in here." Looked in the rear-view mirror to see 10 or so bees bouncing off the back glass. I figured it was just stragglers that didn't make it in the box until there were about 50 bees and then 100. At that point I knew that something had come undone so I hurried home pushing the speed limit wondering what I was going to say to a cop in the event of getting pulled over. How exactly do you tell a cop he can't open your trunk. I planned on just turning the key over to him and closing the windows.....

Anyway, I get home, grab a bottom board and take a listen to the trunk lid. Yup, I could hear bees. Worst part was I left my bee jacket in the the trunk and had no idea what the disposition would be like after riding in the hot trunk for the last hour. Opened it up and they were pretty plesant but glad to be in the open air again. Most of the loose bees followed the boxes to their new home after 20 minutes.






 
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