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Hello from Cabot Arkansas

3K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  julysun 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello,
I am not a beekeeper yet, my husband and I have talked about it a time or two over the years but never pursued it. About two weeks ago while working out in the yard I heard a strange noise. As it got louder I started looking around for the source and saw a huge swarm of bees surrounding one of my large crepe myrtle bushes. After the initial panic subsided at having such a large number of bees show up so close to the house it's been fascinating watching them. They started out in one large mass in the bush about 15 ft up. They have since divided themselves. Some have left and there are two smaller masses still here. One is lower in the bush than the original (about 5 ft off the ground). The second seems to be in a flower pot just above ground level almost straight down from the first. We are toying with the idea of building a top bar hive this weekend. I'm here to learn, we have more questions than answers.

Terry
Insect Bee Plant Beehive Pollinator
 
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#5 ·
They were about head high on a plum tree. I just placed the hive under the swarm and brushed them into it. A couple days later the left the hive and I have to brush them in again. This time I locked them in and put a feeder in with them for 3 days while they built some comb and started laying.
 
#6 ·
Welcome to the site.

Since they are a swarm, they are sending out scouts, looking for a home. Once they find one they agree on, they will move along to it.

You might want to check http://arbeekeepers.org/swarms.html#Lonoke and see if one of those people would be willing to help you capture the swarm for your use.

It is a bit far for me to go to do it.
 
#9 ·
Thank you, I had tried those two last week. Louis Howard's phone number has been disconnected. Joe Clark is a very nice man but health issues have forced him to stop beekeeping. The more we read here the more we realized that we aren't prepared enough yet to care for bees. I called a gentleman in the next county who keeps bees and he is going to come over tomorrow to catch these. We will keep researching and learning. Maybe we will get lucky enough to have another swarm arrive one day and we will be ready.
 
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