[David H]

Went out today to check my two hives with plans of opening them up today. I knew something wasn't right because there were too many bees flying. Looked up and saw the swarm about 18 feet up in a pine tree. Nothing to get up that high so I trimmed some lower limbs and grabbed the shotgun. I set the box about where I thought the bees would land. On shot and the limb came down and missed the box by about 18 inches. My first time catching a swarm wasn't going very well so far. The bees congregated in another pine about 45 minutes later. Still too high and the limb was to large to shoot this time but is was within the reach of my limb saw. Thought process was to cut through the limb so it would sag down and then I could get my bees. Everything went well and the limb started to sag as planned, then it just broke. Back to the ground with the bees. Now the bees are a bit irritated. Well some went back up in the tree and some stayed on the ground. I waited 1 and 1/2 hours and the scene was still the same. Not sure what to do I grabbed another box and put 2 side by side. Odds of bees coming out of tree and landing in one of my boxes now increased. Still a lot of bees on the ground. Shot the bees out of the tree and they landed on the corner of one of the boxes. Did the best I could and sealed the box. Left it alone and came back to find all the bees are now on the ground. Robbed one frame of honey from a strong hive and put in with the box along with some nasonov and set the box directly in front of the bees. A few started going in the hive. I picked up a stick in the pile of bees and gently put it in the front entrance. Bees going in and out for the last few hours but still have a couple of thousand on the ground. Not sure else to do.

 

[shannonswyatt]

Get a bigger gun!

The queen may be in that pile of bees so they are hanging with her. I would try going through the ones on the ground to see if you have a queen in there, but if she isn't painted that may be a tough row to hoe. Particularly in the dark.

 

[G3farms]

Sounds like the queen might have gotten injured on the fall. Next time lay out an old bed sheet for them to fall into, makes looking through them to spot the queen much easier and easier for them to march into the hive.

For swarms up that high (or low) I use a five gallon bucket duct taped to the end of a piece of pipe (well actually I have a grade pole that will extend to 25 feet), raise it up to the bottom of the swarm and give a good shake to make them drop into the bottom of the bucket. Might have to do this several times to finally get the queen.

 

[Brad Bee]

Are you from Somerville in north AL? If so, I'm surprised we've got swarms up this way this early. We have had such cold weather for so long I didn't think any hives would be ready to swarm.

 

[mark williams]

Yep,Where is Somerville? I'm like Brad,Sure hope they are not swarming,I'm not ready.LOL,

 

[Bill D]

David, LOL this is the same thing that happened to me last year shotgun and all. My bees swarmed 40 feet in an oak tree in the front yard. After a box of shells we had shot about six limbs on the ground and a lot of bees in the new hive box but not sure I had the queen. We ran out of daylight and hoped for the best. I had to go work the next day. My daughter called me that next morning and they were swarming again. All that for not. I was told that I should have put grass in the entrance to slow them down from leaving.
Good Luck with your swarm and good shooting!