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Ok, I posted a few questions about a swarm here: http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242280
I got some great responses, thanks a million!
I went to a lady's house today, and sure enough, up in their walnut tree, on a branch, was a swarm about 15inX4inX5in. I was able to ladder up and sweep them into a bucket, and transfered them to a western super filled with drawn comb, spritzed with syrup. I did one sweep, got most of them, and then about ten minutes later, a smaller sweep of those who had regrouped on the limb.
I closed up the top of the hive, and left the entry open. The mass of bees who were in the box stayed, but there werent really anymore who followed in. (pretty cool day, raining).
So in poking around, I found a hole in the trunk, about twenty feet up, which had bees issuing forth. Homeowner says that three years ago, a huge swarm landed on the tree, and they've been in the hole since. She says that this is the second or third swarm this year, so I gather that this is an "Afterswarm"?
While the box was sitting on the roof, I noticed that one single bee (larger) came out the entrance and was running around on the roof. Fearing this might be the queen I picked her up on my brush and put her back in between the frames.
THREE BIG QUESTIONS:
1. If this is an afterswarm, do I have a queen, and is she a virgin? If so, how will she mate? Are there drones in an afterswarm capable of mating?
2. I put the western in an abandoned house, poking out a southern window (to keep the bears off it), in a rural valley with about 40 acres of soon-to-bloom blackberry. I put a foundation-only deep on top of the western, foundation was sprayed with syrup, and added two entry feeders (I will go back tomorrow and replace the migratory cover with an inner/top feeder/cover - I just didn't have it with me.) WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO DO?
3. This colony in the lady's yard seems like a gold mine to me - should I put a box up in her tree to see what I catch? What should I put in the box?
I only have one other hive - a nuc I got on May 5th, which I just added the second deep brood box to - so my resources (frames with fresh brood/honey/etc. are limited)
This is a huge post, but I hope you all stuck it out, and can give me some good info!
AN
I got some great responses, thanks a million!
I went to a lady's house today, and sure enough, up in their walnut tree, on a branch, was a swarm about 15inX4inX5in. I was able to ladder up and sweep them into a bucket, and transfered them to a western super filled with drawn comb, spritzed with syrup. I did one sweep, got most of them, and then about ten minutes later, a smaller sweep of those who had regrouped on the limb.
I closed up the top of the hive, and left the entry open. The mass of bees who were in the box stayed, but there werent really anymore who followed in. (pretty cool day, raining).
So in poking around, I found a hole in the trunk, about twenty feet up, which had bees issuing forth. Homeowner says that three years ago, a huge swarm landed on the tree, and they've been in the hole since. She says that this is the second or third swarm this year, so I gather that this is an "Afterswarm"?
While the box was sitting on the roof, I noticed that one single bee (larger) came out the entrance and was running around on the roof. Fearing this might be the queen I picked her up on my brush and put her back in between the frames.
THREE BIG QUESTIONS:
1. If this is an afterswarm, do I have a queen, and is she a virgin? If so, how will she mate? Are there drones in an afterswarm capable of mating?
2. I put the western in an abandoned house, poking out a southern window (to keep the bears off it), in a rural valley with about 40 acres of soon-to-bloom blackberry. I put a foundation-only deep on top of the western, foundation was sprayed with syrup, and added two entry feeders (I will go back tomorrow and replace the migratory cover with an inner/top feeder/cover - I just didn't have it with me.) WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO DO?
3. This colony in the lady's yard seems like a gold mine to me - should I put a box up in her tree to see what I catch? What should I put in the box?
I only have one other hive - a nuc I got on May 5th, which I just added the second deep brood box to - so my resources (frames with fresh brood/honey/etc. are limited)
This is a huge post, but I hope you all stuck it out, and can give me some good info!
AN