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218 Posts
Hey yall:
Just routine checking my girls after church, and immediately saw a small swarm in the air circling above me. I first thought it was just all scout bees, and then I saw lots of drones in the air. Since I'm still a rookie in all this, I try hard to research, do school of hard knocks, and hands on.
When I saw that many bees with drones, I knew a queen must be in the air, or why would they all be circling ?
I raced to my ATV with my trailer on it, brought a tall step ladder, and placed one of my just assembled 5 frame nucs on it. I made it smell good with fresh lemon grass oil, and also sprayed some sugar syrup around.
Catching my breath, I kept looking and watching. In one of my holly trees about 12 feet up, I see about a pint full of bees in a wad in my holly. This ain't gonna be easy because they have circled the truck of the tree, and I have no way to get them down, unless my coaxing and nuc with the good scents bring them down. It is now about 6:30 P.M. I saw all of this about 45 minutes ago. It doesn't get dark till about 8:45 P.M. now, and this heat is really steamy here.
Unless yall got better ideas, I think I'm gonna hang tough and see what happens in the morning. Right now, my plans are to leave them alone, it is a really small swarm if you can call it that. (I do, because why would they leave their hive and perch in a holly tree?). Just two days ago, I checked all hives, things looked good, and installed in each hive a screened top cover to help them get cooler.
Done wrote a book, hey, holler back, I am a good listener. I know about advice, my dad said a wise man don't need it, and a fool won't heed it. I just need some thoughts on this, figure most of you have about seen it all.
Best,
casper_zip
Just routine checking my girls after church, and immediately saw a small swarm in the air circling above me. I first thought it was just all scout bees, and then I saw lots of drones in the air. Since I'm still a rookie in all this, I try hard to research, do school of hard knocks, and hands on.
When I saw that many bees with drones, I knew a queen must be in the air, or why would they all be circling ?
I raced to my ATV with my trailer on it, brought a tall step ladder, and placed one of my just assembled 5 frame nucs on it. I made it smell good with fresh lemon grass oil, and also sprayed some sugar syrup around.
Catching my breath, I kept looking and watching. In one of my holly trees about 12 feet up, I see about a pint full of bees in a wad in my holly. This ain't gonna be easy because they have circled the truck of the tree, and I have no way to get them down, unless my coaxing and nuc with the good scents bring them down. It is now about 6:30 P.M. I saw all of this about 45 minutes ago. It doesn't get dark till about 8:45 P.M. now, and this heat is really steamy here.
Unless yall got better ideas, I think I'm gonna hang tough and see what happens in the morning. Right now, my plans are to leave them alone, it is a really small swarm if you can call it that. (I do, because why would they leave their hive and perch in a holly tree?). Just two days ago, I checked all hives, things looked good, and installed in each hive a screened top cover to help them get cooler.
Done wrote a book, hey, holler back, I am a good listener. I know about advice, my dad said a wise man don't need it, and a fool won't heed it. I just need some thoughts on this, figure most of you have about seen it all.
Best,
casper_zip