To some spring means flowers, green grass, and thunderstorms. To me, spring means SWARMS! Of all of the beekeeping activities throughout the year, swarm wrangling his by far my favorite.
I received ‘the call’ Tuesday afternoon from the local police department about a swarm in progress and meandered my way by after work to check them out before stopping at home to get the necessary equipment. I was speaking to the lady on the phone as I was driving, and I asked her “so, are we talking about 50 bees or a giant blob?” She replied “Oh no, a giant blob. They’re on my front door. Are you coming right away?”
I arrived at her house and found this:
I about wet my pants with excitement and anticipation. I calmly explained why the bees were there and what they were doing and went home to gather my equipment.
By the time I was close to ready, my bee-buddy was about to get off of work so I stalled for a few minutes so we could share the success of another swarm captured. I arrived back at the swarm just in time to watch the last two handfuls join the cartoon shaped cloud that was already airborne. I stood there with the homeowner in awe as the bees organized and the cloud proceeded south.
I quickly ended the conversation and attempted to follow them. I was able to track them 2 blocks south were the congregated around a large maple tree. As soon I put the truck in park, I recognized where I was; we had been to this tree last year when the homeowner called with bees in her tree.
I was able to capture a couple of videos of the cloud of bees as they funneled the RV sized swarm into a fist-sized knothole and, for the most part, disappeared from sight.
We were bummed we weren’t able to catch the swarm but were pleased we were able to watch Mother Nature in action.
...Hmmm, can't figure out how to upload video. I gues you will have to use your imagination until I get a little more time.
I received ‘the call’ Tuesday afternoon from the local police department about a swarm in progress and meandered my way by after work to check them out before stopping at home to get the necessary equipment. I was speaking to the lady on the phone as I was driving, and I asked her “so, are we talking about 50 bees or a giant blob?” She replied “Oh no, a giant blob. They’re on my front door. Are you coming right away?”
I arrived at her house and found this:
I about wet my pants with excitement and anticipation. I calmly explained why the bees were there and what they were doing and went home to gather my equipment.
By the time I was close to ready, my bee-buddy was about to get off of work so I stalled for a few minutes so we could share the success of another swarm captured. I arrived back at the swarm just in time to watch the last two handfuls join the cartoon shaped cloud that was already airborne. I stood there with the homeowner in awe as the bees organized and the cloud proceeded south.
I quickly ended the conversation and attempted to follow them. I was able to track them 2 blocks south were the congregated around a large maple tree. As soon I put the truck in park, I recognized where I was; we had been to this tree last year when the homeowner called with bees in her tree.
I was able to capture a couple of videos of the cloud of bees as they funneled the RV sized swarm into a fist-sized knothole and, for the most part, disappeared from sight.
We were bummed we weren’t able to catch the swarm but were pleased we were able to watch Mother Nature in action.
...Hmmm, can't figure out how to upload video. I gues you will have to use your imagination until I get a little more time.