First swarm of the Year...

1792 Views 9 Replies 5 Participants Last post by rweakley, May 30, 2010

rweakley

Discussion Starter · May 18, 2010

I was at work and got a call from a guy in the parks dept at a near by municipality. He was like how much would you charge to get a swarm of bees. Well it depends on the situation, if they hanging 5-6 foot off the ground where I can get to them maybe nothing, if they are 20 ft up in there, good luck with that. Well they are maybe 8ft in the air in a tree, and I have a ladder. I happen to have a hive box in the back of my truck I will come look at them (it was maybe 10 mins from my work and I'm the boss). I get there and it is a nice size swarm hard to guess but I would say 4- 5 lbs of bees, but his 8 ft was probably closer to 20 ft in the air. He did have a 12 ft ladder (I'm guessing, but it was a pretty tall ladder). So I set it up to the side of the bees and clip some branches out of the way, Reposition the ladder, come back up with my NUC box and lift it almost arms length above my head putting a good chunk of swarm down in the box, reach up with my other arm and shake (did I mention that's my arm with the broken wrist LOL) the branches. Bees fall down in the box, I sit it down on the top of the ladder and wait for everyone to come marching home. While this is happening I start explaining to the guy what happened and where they probably came from. Their main hive is probably right over there or over there in a hollow tree, in some ones back yard or (at this point I spy a tree 50 foot way with bees flying around a crack) RIGHT THERE. How funny is that I found the parent hive. Brought bees down on ground, put the frames back in and headed back to work. The bees are on my back porch right now in the shade. I got just the place for them when I get home. I'll keep everyone updated as to if the queen survived.

Rod

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Yuleluder

· #2 · May 18, 2010

Nice catch!

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rweakley

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 19, 2010

This morning they were flying, but a bunch of them were clustering on the top of the NUC. Should I be worried? They aren't thinking about taking off are they? I knew I should have given them a frame of brood. They only have a middle frame with a small amount of comb and 4 foundationless. I didn't have anything else to give them.

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MikeJ

· #4 · May 19, 2010

What about the tree. Are you going to get those bees?
It would seem strange to not get them (unless the park service wants you back out next year).

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rweakley

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 19, 2010

I asked him about those bees in the tree and he basically said don't worry about them. So yes there will probably be more swarms, but now that he knows that they will probably move on in a day or so he won't worry about it. Before I guess he thought they were going to make a new nest right there in the open.

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Zane

· #6 · May 19, 2010

They probably have started building comb on the lid to your nuc. Knock em down and see if they will move to the comb is what I do.

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rweakley

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 20, 2010

I'll check on them sat or sunday, they aren't going anywhere tomorrow, we are going to have an all day rain here. Sat is supposed to be almost 90 degrees. Something tells me I will need to g et them into a fullsize obx pretty soon. I am running out of equipment again, dang productive bees.

Rod

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peacekeeperapiaries

· #8 · May 20, 2010

rweakley said:
I am running out of equipment again, dang productive bees.Rod

i hate when that happens, such a bad problem to have

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rweakley

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 20, 2010

Problem is I have boxes but not enough frames, well thats not completely true, I have a few more mediums, but no more deeps to speak of. Probably going to try to get some from some one who was selling them cheap in the for sale section. Boy I need some honey sales.

Rod

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rweakley

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 30, 2010

Re: First swarm of the Year... UPDATE!!!!

Went to check on them today. WOW, they had drawn out and filled all 5 frames of foundationless perfectly top to bottom. They were dying for some more room, they had started drawing comb where ever they could. I moved them to a full deep and something tells me in a week or so they will need another deep. Might have to build one out of plywood. I didn't see the queen during my inspection,but plenty of brood and eggs. Even got a little taste of their honey from the burr comb YUMMY. I JUST LOVE FREE BEES!!! :applause:

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