Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: 10framer on March 05, 2014, 01:10:41 pm
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i was thinking that since we're following the bloom maybe we should follow the swarms too. i'm thinking that some of the gulf coast and atlantic coast beekeepers will start getting swarm calls next week and that they will be popping up close to me by the last week of march as long as we don't have another freeze. have any south florida beekeepers hived any yet?
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Sounds like a great idea 10.
Like I said in another post, My mentor had a swarm in her swarm trap 2 weeks ago here in Jacksonville. I think it was a gift from above, someone poisoned all of her bees last fall.
Jim
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it seems like a lot later start than last year for everybody. i drove to houston about this time last year and there was a sudden cold snap but i remember stopping in a town in either ms. or la. and seeing some crimson clover in bloom.
aside from the lack of drones my bees seem to be ahead of this time last year and the build up flows started a little earlier. all my clover had a big growth spurt and has greened up so i'm expecting it to come in just about on time in the country.
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Sooner than that, 10. There was one caught in southern Georgia the 2nd or 3rd of this month.
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what a week
jay
OK I caught a swarm last week
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8-)
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talked to hardwood yesterday and he was hiving a swarm and said it was no 6
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Bud, next time you talk to Scott! Tell him to get his butt back on here.
We miss all those video's.
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tefer scotts home burned and he is building a house now and doesent have internet
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so they're out there but nobody's talking about them this year. seems like bailey had hives 20 or 30 by this time last year.
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yes Bud I remember, guess most folks just have internet on their phone?
I did get him to respond through his e-mail once.
You'll probably see him at your house for the gathering! Tell him I said Hey!
Sorry for the hijack.
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Rob, I had my first swarm yesterday. I was unable to hive them. They were in tall weeds at the base of a bush. I don't have a beevac yet. That's what it would have taken to get them..
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RH,
I have gathered these type of swarms before by laying a blanket on the ground and scraping the bees onto the blanket. Then fold and dump the blanket into the box.
(http://s20.postimg.org/5zte15hbt/IMG_3067.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/5zte15hbt/)
(http://s20.postimg.org/fvuh0sn3t/IMG_3072.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/fvuh0sn3t/)
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ray, i found my first drone in a hive that is trying to supercede and a few empty queen cups in a couple of other hives. it looks like clover will probably be blooming in town in about a week and this year things seem to be running about a week behind in the country.
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RH,
I have gathered these type of swarms before by laying a blnket on the ground and scraping the bees onto the blanket. Then fold and dump the blanket into the box.
Thanks Ken. I imagine they are still there. I scooped up as many as I could into a medium populated with a frame of honey and some drawn comb. I was hoping the others would follow but it looked like they regrouped down at their original position. I'll give your method a try. The grass was wet and there were a lot of dead bees. I don't hold out a lot of hope.
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i was thinking that since we're following the bloom maybe we should follow the swarms too. i'm thinking that some of the gulf coast and atlantic coast beekeepers will start getting swarm calls next week and that they will be popping up close to me by the last week of march as long as we don't have another freeze. have any south florida beekeepers hived any yet?
IMHO
The two should be tried together by what is blossoming when you see your first swarms I know for me in this part of New England it is apple blossom most likely.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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Got swarm #1 Yesterday from right behind my bee yard. Assuming they came from one of my hives, but really don't know for sure. Maybe I'll have a better idea if I get a chance to do some inspections today.
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sounds like it's about to turn on for the coastal beekeepers. cajun country, the carolinas, florida and south georgia. i'm so far behind it's not funny.
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Second one today. Just put them in a box over a queen excluder. I'll remove the excluder in a couple of days.
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ray, are they your bees or are these calls? just curious.
i saw a few crimson clover blooms in town yesterday. it's about to ramp up and i'm not ready.
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Caught the first swarm This past Saturday 3/8/14. About 3 lbs. Watched it land on a broccoli plant in my Garden.
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you have to love this time of year.
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I'd love it if I had some empty equipment read. :(
I have two 'nucs' that need larger homes. If I have a swarm I'll be scrambling to get something. I have all the wood..... but the time not so much.
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Alright guys(and ladies), I stickied this topic as it coincides with the Follow the Bloom 2014 thread. Towards fall I will unsticky this and the follow the bloom 2014 threads and we can do this again next spring. :)
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Hopefully I'll get some swarms/calls this year. I just sent my info to the Consolidated Dispatch Agency Supervisor in case they get some 911 calls about a swarm.
...DOUG
KD4MOJ
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ray, are they your bees or are these calls? just curious.
i saw a few crimson clover blooms in town yesterday. it's about to ramp up and i'm not ready.
I'm pretty sure that they're mine. I'm going out to catch another in just a few minutes. They have to settle. That's three.
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Three? Way to go!
I have the equipment, just need some swarms.
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ray, seems like hiving your own swarms worked out pretty good for you last year.
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ray, seems like hiving your own swarms worked out pretty good for you last year.
As far a growth, yes it did. Honey production was hurt pretty bad though.
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The wife just called, said a swarm is hanging on the neighbor's mailbox. You might know, I'm 5 hours away.
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The wife just called, said a swarm is hanging on the neighbor's mailbox. You might know, I'm 5 hours away.
Sounds like you need to get that girl a bee suit. :-D
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Sounds like you need to get that girl a bee suit. :-D
[/quote]
That's what I said. As luck would have it, I caught one anyway. At work, on the clock. Ain't that sweet!
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Sounds like you need to get that girl a bee suit. :-D
That's what I said. As luck would have it, I caught one anyway. At work, on the clock. Ain't that sweet!
[/quote]
It don't get any better than that. Congrats.
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Two days of sunny weather and the fruitless plums are all going strong, apples, cherries, sugar maples, daffodils, crocus, tulips, multiple ground covers with little blue flowers....it is spring here....finally.
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Caught about a 4lb swarm on Mon. 3/10. In a condomium on a ligustrom.
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seems like the coastal bees have decided it's spring.
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seems like the coastal bees have decided it's spring.
Rob, I just put another one in a box over a queen includer. Yep, it's that time.
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i just had a swarm fly into a trap 2 days ago lucky me :-D
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i suspect i'll find drones today and if so i'm going to pull nucs from any hives with queen cells. i bought a radial arm saw yesterday. looks like it's about to see some action.
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got my first swarm call today. My hives have drones so it's the season here.
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Last year I caught my first swarm the first week in March, had scarlet and white clover blooming.
This year the bee inspector was telling me about how my beeyard was in bloom last year.
This year the clover is just starting to grow.
I did notice a few drones crawling around and capped drone cells in the corners of the foundations.
I'm usually 2-3 weeks behind ya'll on the coast.
I'm putting out 35 swarm traps and been sending brochures and cards to the towns around here saying I catch swarms and do trap-outs.
I'm bite'n at the bits.
I am in Central Arkansas, we're expecting some wintery mix in the north part of the state Sunday nite.
Ya'll out east hang on here it comes again.
:-D
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Does anybody think feeding next to a swarm trap might help never traped before just wondering thanks
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found drones in most hives today. i had uncapped queen cells with larvae in my really strong hive. i took the queen and made a 5 framed deep nuc. that hive had a full deep, a full medium and about a third of another medium full of brood. hopefully i avoided a swarm. i'm going to super them and a few more hives this week, clover should be blooming in less than two weeks, i think.
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gb; I was wondering the same thing.
btw, Welcome to the forum. You may want to update your profile and add your location. A lot of bee keeping questions are location specific.
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Was in my hives yesterday and found swarm cells in a hive here in western north Carolina. Only thing blooming are the daffodils. Its been cold here so far with only 1 or 2 days above 70 degrees.
David
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It's starting here in middle Ga. got a swarm call Thrusday afternoon. We had heavy rain then a little warm spell. that is when they swarm just after rain. I called Jessie down near perry ga. to go get them in Kathleen Ga. just south of Warner Robins,Ga. I was at work. then I have had 6 Removal calls so far this year. they are starting to get active.
john
Hey 10 framer. have you ever done a house removal. let me know I have one here in Gray that I am having to do pretty soon if you want to get your hands sticky having some fun.
John
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Caught one today, it was a whopper. They were pretty aggravating, way up in a oak tree. I tried to knock them out a few times, but they kept going back to the limb. So I took the pole saw to the limb. Managed to get them in a box right ahead of a storm. That's the second one for me this year.
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divemaster,
i've done a lot of them. have you been to look at what you'll be dealing with? knowing ahead of time really helps in making things easier. i'll pm you.
i'm about a half hour from kathleen. there are empty queen cups in most of my hives. i'll be making more 5 frame nucs later this week. i think if i wait much longer than that they'll be hanging in the trees.
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Caught two more swarms today pushing my swarm count up to three for the year.
One was about 2lbs that I shook into a deep nuc.
The second one was a big swarm about 5 to 6 lbs. Shook this one into a double medium.
My bees on on a good flow right now with the blackberry blooming. This is the most blackberry nectar that I ever seen coming in. Looking good so far.
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Caught two more swarms today pushing my swarm count up to three...
...My bees on on a good flow right now with the blackberry blooming. This is the most blackberry nectar that I ever seen coming in. Looking good so far.
Gov,
Sounds good, I'm at three also, but 2 were in my bee yard, and while I don't know with certainty that they were mine, I'm thinking that's where the smart money would go. :-D
Help educate me...because I'm terrible about know if the flow is on or not, much less what particular flow it is.
Exactly what do you mean when you say you are "seeing" blackberry nectar coming in?
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Caught two more swarms today pushing my swarm count up to three...
...My bees on on a good flow right now with the blackberry blooming. This is the most blackberry nectar that I ever seen coming in. Looking good so far.
Gov,
Sounds good, I'm at three also, but 2 were in my bee yard, and while I don't know with certainty that they were mine, I'm thinking that's where the smart money would go. :-D
Help educate me...because I'm terrible about know if the flow is on or not, much less what particular flow it is.
Exactly what do you mean when you say you are "seeing" blackberry nectar coming in?
Moots, The blackberry bushes around me are starting to come into full bloom and the bees are working it hard. The nectar that they are bringing in is from the blackberrys. Some of my strong hives almost filled a full super already.
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#3 today, this one from one of my own hives. It was a real easy one, they left the hive and pitched in a bush, not 50 yards from the hive. I shook them off into a box. The whole thing didn't last 30 minutes from start to finish.
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Looks like yall catch lots of swarms. I have always giving them open brood, pollen/honey and feed them. Do yall do that with all the swarm you catch? It would tax my hives if I got that many swarms.
dan
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One of my hives swarmed last Wed, 05/19/2014. I came home from work about two in the afternoon, and bees were flying everywhere. I was able to get them into a box and I did see the queen. Looked to be at least 3 lbs of bees.
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Do yall do that with all the swarm you catch? It would tax my hives if I got that many swarms.
dan
More equipment, I only started out wanting to have 2 hives, now three years later I've got something like 40 and would have more but I've sold a bunch.
Stupid JP and schawee video's screwed up my life. ;)
I've even got fatter from eaten to many shakes and Chineses
Don
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Do yall do that with all the swarm you catch? It would tax my hives if I got that many swarms.
dan
More equipment, I only started out wanting to have 2 hives, now three years later I've got something like 40 and would have more but I've sold a bunch.
Stupid JP and schawee video's screwed up my life. ;)
I've even got fatter from eaten to many shakes and Chineses
:lau: :lau:
Don
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Looks like yall catch lots of swarms. I have always giving them open brood, pollen/honey and feed them. Do yall do that with all the swarm you catch? It would tax my hives if I got that many swarms.
dan
dan, i usually just throw them on foundation (drawn comb if i have it) and check back in a week or so. they aren't going to swarm if they can't build up. i'm not a big fan of setting a strong hive back to prop up another one.
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I just shook swarm # 2, from a camellia bush in town. Looked to be about 3 lbs.
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Got a dusting of snow here this morning. I'm getting swarm envy! :)
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3-25; Swarm - Montgomery, Alabama.
(I missed it - but thanks Dan for the heads up)
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Suppose to warm up from now on so this next week I look for bees to swarm here in Central Arkansas.
The only calls I'm getting are for trap-outs and I won't start them until the middle of April.
I'm bit'n at the bits.
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My wife just caught #4, all by herself. Getting her a bee suit just paid off. Not from my bees this one was from a colony living in a pine tree. Land owner wants the original colony gone. Looks like a trap out is coming. This will be a first.
My wife is quite happy. I'm quite proud of her. Who knows maybe I can get her to do some inspections next. :-D
NOT. She just likes the fun stuff, I'm not complaining.
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inspections are like therapy for me. i enjoy going through hives when i'm not in a hurry.
just go "tom sawyer" on her and it's fun and you won't even charge her.
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3-25-14 Got a swarm call in Pelham, AL (Caught)
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I received a call at noon today by the ground keepers of the down town stadium grounds in Jacksonville FL. I asked where and how big it. He said it was chest high and then asked another guy, that had just walk in the door, how big is it. The answer was it was gone. It had landed there last night. At least now he has my number for when it happens again.
Jim
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i'm with capt44, i suspect that there will be a lot of swarm activity down south as soon as this rain moves out. nothing gets them fired up more than the last cold snap or being cooped up by rain for a couple of days.
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Have snagged 9 so far this year of which one was today in the rain. I have had to turn down 6, tried to refer them to others who might be interested, only had one return call where the person wanted to thank me for referring another beek to remove the swarm.
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3-25; Swarm - Montgomery, Alabama.
(I missed it - but thanks Dan for the heads up)
Anytime GFS, I will send some more your way this year from around your area. Last year I did several cutouts around your area and turned down several swarms. Old age is slowing me down an I am not covering as many miles as in years gone by.
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Thanks Dan! I'll email you my cell and my wife's cell. I also work for a living. I have Sunday's and a rotating day off. S-Mon, S-Tue, ect.
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Another today. Once again caught by my wife. Very thankful for her help.
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#24, it took off like a rocket these last two weeks. Whats the deal with all the trees this year? Ive had more calls about trees than anything else, I hate trees. Guess its time to get the chains sharpened.
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Today while waiting for the shaken bees from one swarm to settle into a box, the air filled with bees from over a treeline and a second even larger swarm landed on a tree limb about 25 feet away. It was about 2 foot of the ground and by the time I made the trip home to get another box and return it had grown to about the size of a 3 gallon well bucket and almost touching the ground. I love days like today, hope the coming week is like this with temps in the high 70's and low 80's it makes for a lot of fun.
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# 3 today.....
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Had my first swarm on Friday (March 28th), my second on Saturday, and my third on Sunday. As much fun as it is, I hope the season doesn't continue like this. It would also be more fun if they weren't all Africanized around here.
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david talked to jp and shawee today they both tied on 30 something, forgot what
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#24, it took off like a rocket these last two weeks. Whats the deal with all the trees this year? Ive had more calls about trees than anything else, I hate trees. Guess its time to get the chains sharpened.
Hey Duck, What U mean tree calls?
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it sounds like he means hives in hollows of trees.
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Got # 4 today.
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I received a call this evening from the manager of a marina. Said there was a swarm of bees the size of a mellon in a fish net on one of the boats and asked me if i could come and get it. I told him I was getting my stuff together and getting ready to leave. My 9 year old grand daughter was going with me. We were in the car and I was entering the address in my IPhone when it rang. It was the manager. He said that the boat owner had called a fellow beek at the same time that he called me. I called him and he was almost there. He sent me photos, it was bigger than a basketball by the time he got there.
Another one missed. I am hoping to get a good swarm for my OH.
Jim
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#4 today. A small swarm on the ground. Actually the dog found them. I guess that's one for him.
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#2 on the West side 'o Jax today. Not real big.
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Got # 5 yesterday. A small secondary swarm...same place I got one a few days ago. :-D
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Another one today at 10:30am. I think that's 5. I'm running out of equipment. :-D And I like it. Gotta get busy.
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Missed another one early this week - went into a wall and the exterminators beat me to it. Went to one today. The maintenance man had sprayed it with wasp and hornet killer and ran the swarm inside. Dead bees inside and out.
Stay tuned, I'll probably miss another one real soon :-x
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Got number 6 today.....
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Got my first swarm of the season. I have had four calls so far that I have missed due to work . this one was 5 pounds.
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had a swarm hanging 30 feet from the beeyard this afternoon. went 100 yards to the barn to get a hive and they were leaving when i got back.
it's only been a few days since i went through my hives so i was kind of stumped about where they could have come from. i went through all my hives and found the queens in every hive that was supposed to have one (i've done a couple of walk away splits recently). only had queen cells with larvae in one hive (went ahead and split it).
i hate that i lost them but i'm glad they weren't mine.
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Got a call this afternoon. Swarm has gone into the wall of a house. I decided to wait a few hours until dark, to open the wll and remove them. When i came back, i could hear no buzzing in the wall. We will see if they are still tuere tomorrow. The home owner may have killed them with spray, before getting help.
Got another call about a swarm up the road. Again, sounds like they made a home in a second story wall. Checking it tomorrow too. Looks like a busy swarm season beginning here in eastern nc. I need more equipment.
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chux in 2 story houses i almost always found them between floor joists.
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had a swarm hanging 30 feet from the beeyard this afternoon. went 100 yards to the barn to get a hive and they were leaving when i got back.
it's only been a few days since i went through my hives so i was kind of stumped about where they could have come from. i went through all my hives and found the queens in every hive that was supposed to have one (i've done a couple of walk away splits recently). only had queen cells with larvae in one hive (went ahead and split it).
i hate that i lost them but i'm glad they weren't mine.
You should have drumed then to the ground. It works for me every time..
John
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As far as following the swarm progression goes, is there a way to track them on a map like they do mushrooms:
http://morelhunters.com/ (http://morelhunters.com/)
It used to load fairly quickly, but seems like they went to using Google maps or something so it takes a long time now.
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10framer, that is probably where they are. Went back last night, but never found them in the wall. Owner is unwilling to open floor. He was going to poison them today. :'(
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john I get a lot of derogertory coments about my bucket and pistol. but i usually put a few swarms in the box that others would watch fly over the trees
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One today, huge swarm
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i expect a lot of swarm activity in the southeast tomorrow. a couple of days cooped up because of the rain will have them fired up.
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We supposed to get some more rain tomorrow evening. Wouldn't you know it, I have to go back to work tomorrow.
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john I get a lot of derogertory coments about my bucket and pistol. but i usually put a few swarms in the box that others would watch fly over the trees
I have learned that some of the old ways work better than the new ones
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Montgomery; Fellow told me he got two swarms Saturday and one swarm today.
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Got me a swarm today. I went to the fellow's house and asked where were they. He said right there in that bucket.
How much should I charge him?
Just kidding, same guy I mentioned yesterday. He said he didn't have anywhere to put them. It don't get no better than going by someone's house and picking up a bucket with a swarm. I'd say between 1.5 & 2 pounds. They come from his hives, said he don't treat.
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gary, if you do late splits i'll trade you a couple of young queens for that one.
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(http://s3.postimg.org/f02u2uewv/20140410_101330.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/f02u2uewv/)
Today at 10:00am. Caught.
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Ray, Sweet!
Rob, I sent you a couple of emails. That gentleman is going through his hives tomorrow to remove queen cells.
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# 7, from one of my hives again. It looks like I would do a better job managing my bees.... :-D
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I forced more than one by too much syrup early on. :-D
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This week had five swarm calls. Caught all five. Also did two extractions from customers walls. Second one actually had two separate hives in it. So I guess you can say did three extractions. Caught all three queens. It was a busy week. Already have one extraction scheduled for next week and another call that I need to go check out for another extraction. South Louisiana is "buzzin" right now
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# 7, from one of my hives again. It looks like I would do a better job managing my bees.... :-D
Yeah, I feel your pain. All my plans were implemented to late. I didn't have enough local timing information. Next year open brood nest mid February, nectar management end of January. Consequences not an issue.
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Had 4 today caught only one. A real big one got away. Here's a picture of the one that got away. I'm out of equipment but still disappointed.
(http://s28.postimg.org/6mdum1gnd/20140413_105558.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/6mdum1gnd/)
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all out of your hives ray?
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all out of your hives ray?
Yep, when the smoke settles and swarm season is done I'm combining.
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Macon Mississippi/Bud 6; I'm thinking 5 or 6 over the weekend.
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all out of your hives ray?
Yep, when the smoke settles and swarm season is done I'm combining.
you need some new blood in the mix.
how big are the hives that are swarming? how big are the swarms?
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(http://s28.postimg.org/vzgh0h07d/20140413_105558.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/vzgh0h07d/)
Rob,
Biggest swarm I've ever seen. Today and I missed it. I timed my swarm prevention measures a little bit late this year. I'm not worried about it. I'll be able to fix things for the flow. This is what healthy bees do.
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I will stand corrected on the swarm count at Buds. I've done seen a couple of videos of swarm captures I wasn't aware of.
(Modified) From what I'm gathering somewhere in the mid 20's to 30ish. All them beehives, all them people, and 80 degree temp just the right combination. I haven't seen a swarm of bees in a couple of decades or so. I wasn't at Buds 24 hours and seen 3 or 4.
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CaugHt one of my own today.
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CaugHt one of my own today.
Congrats. Maybe it's your turn now. :-D
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ray, i have three hives that i haven't pulled nucs from since march 15 or weren't started from those nucs. i went through them yesterday and either found the queen or multiple frames of eggs and no queen cells. none of them looked depleted of bees. i should only just be getting laying queens in the first of the hives i pulled from now. the swarm was small (maybe 2 pounds) i'm wondering if i have a virgin queen or if a nuc swarmed on me. i'll know better this weekend.
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I'm hoping for some for some swarms this weekend. I have caught only 2 so far from my own hives. I have 2 additional I got from 3 cutouts I lost one today from the cold weather. But have 2 more to do the next two weekends. I'll be back up to 15 hives. Only 32 more to get to be back to were I started last summer. Then to add another 68 to be were I want to be.
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CaugHt one of my own today.
Congrats. Maybe it's your turn now. :-D
thanks ray! i had another one hanging so close to where i found the one yesterday i decided to open it up before i went to the barn to get another hive. monday i had a plan and enough equipment to to do it. now i'm down to mix and match dadant deep frames and rossman deep foundation and you have to modify the top bar to get a good fit. thinking about trying to get some dadant foundation overnighted.
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Here in Central Arkansas the bees started swarming just after the last cold snap last week.
They are swarming like there is no tomorrow.
I got 4 day before yesterday and 5 yesterday and so far 2 today.
All swarm calls.
fruit trees have about slowed down on blooming.
All we have left to bloom is pear and apple.
The scarlet and white clover is not blooming here yet, probably next week.
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Any swarm activity in Tennessee? I put out 2 traps buy haven't seen any activity. My 1 hive shows no sign of swarm prep either.
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another one today.
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Where is the greenface emoticon for Jealous???
I need it.
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i think they're all afterswarms from hives i split to avoid swarms hjohn. it's actually messing me up. i had 2 or 3 generations worth of history memorized for all my queens. now i have wild cards.
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A couple of days ago I went to my bee yard and bees were flying everywhere. Then I saw two swarms moving off, higher over the trees and gone. I also noticed a small clump of bees on the ground next to another hive. Maybe a couple of hundred bees. I thought, OK I must have dropped some comb with honey on it and these bees were taking advantage. The next day, same thing only now the clump was double in size. Well today the clump was 2 feet by 2 feet and 5 inches thick! Dang! Is this a swarm? On the ground? Its been raining all night! Sure enough as I slowly sifted ( gloved fingers) through the bees, there she was. A marked queen from last years new hive! I placed the queen and a bunch of workers in a hive box. I set the box next to the swarm and now all are marching into their new home.
Is this rare for swarms to go to the ground like this?
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The theory is that the queen isn't used to flying so when they swarm they may not go far before they land. Then she rests and off they go again. In this case she may have left the hive way too early and was too heavy to fly.
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Got my first ever yesterday. There were about 100 bees clustered on the outside of a two story balcony. I brushed them into a box and saw bees through a 3/16 or less crack in the boards. I thought they had already moved in but when I got to the ground, I stumbled and hit the hedge bushes. Bees flew everywhere and I saw them re-cluster. I moved that cluster into the box on the second story and they immediately started fanning. I checked today and they have totally abandoned the house. I guess the queen couldn't fit through the crack so the homeowner and I both got lucky. Hooked for life!!
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Hey yall, Im new here. Cumberland Va. Caught my first swarm today. It was huge. In a cherry tree above my neighbors hives. I had an extra box so I was able to capture them. Im thinking he dosent want to grow over his 2 existing hives so tommorrow, I will find out, I will raise them and give him the surplus honey. Had to climb the ladder twice, first trip I must have left her up there. Second trip the bees were flocking to the box and lots of fanning going on. Will see tommorrow I suppose. Thanks G
Well, I tried to post some images of this giant swarm, but got red flagged, :? I will share them somewhere else. Great beekeeping to you all, thought I had found another forum to frequent
Updated by eivindm:
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b561/eivindmork/DSC04456_zps5752ab1d.jpg) (http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/eivindmork/media/DSC04456_zps5752ab1d.jpg.html)
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b561/eivindmork/DSC04457_zps7812d960.jpg) (http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/eivindmork/media/DSC04457_zps7812d960.jpg.html)
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b561/eivindmork/DSC04459_zpsc5265476.jpg) (http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/eivindmork/media/DSC04459_zpsc5265476.jpg.html)
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b561/eivindmork/DSC04454_zps6db3301a.jpg) (http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/eivindmork/media/DSC04454_zps6db3301a.jpg.html)
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Welcome biggraham!
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Well, I tried to post some images of this giant swarm, but got red flagged, :? I will share them somewhere else. Great beekeeping to you all, thought I had found another forum to frequent
Hi and welcome to the forum!
We actually have a very good reason to enforce the moderator inclusion of pictures for new members. During the years we have had a lot of spam images in this forum posted by both bots (automatic posting) and humans. The forum is quite well ranked in google, and thus is a target for spam images. We work hard to keep this forum in good shape, and not ruined by porn and other spam images. This makes it a bit inconvenient to post images for new members, but it will not take too long for a new member to be able to post images.
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Got a call yesterday for 2 swarms in a town about 45 minutes from the house. The swarms were miles apart. Decided to go catch them. About 20 minutes before i got there, the homeowner called me to tell me that her swarm flew off. I looked around the neighborhood, but couldnt find them.
The second swarm was still there. They came out of a commercial beek friends, hive. He sent me after them. The swarm was too big for a nuc, so i taped a two deep nuc bodies together. I dropped the swarm cluster in the box, then carried it about 20 feet away, to level ground. I went back over twice to dump clusters in a bucket, then dumped the bucket in front of the hive. After an hour, only about a cup of bees were still on the front of the box. Sealed her up, and brought her home. I put syrup out this morning.
I also went to check a swarm trap near a bee tree, yesterday evening. There were at least a dozen scout bees checking out the box. Crossed fingers. If that box catches a swarm in the next few days, that will be my first. I was so excited when i saw all tue traffic at the box. Thought it was occupied, at first.
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A couple of days ago I went to my bee yard and bees were flying everywhere. Then I saw two swarms moving off, higher over the trees and gone. I also noticed a small clump of bees on the ground next to another hive. Maybe a couple of hundred bees. I thought, OK I must have dropped some comb with honey on it and these bees were taking advantage. The next day, same thing only now the clump was double in size. Well today the clump was 2 feet by 2 feet and 5 inches thick! Dang! Is this a swarm? On the ground? Its been raining all night! Sure enough as I slowly sifted ( gloved fingers) through the bees, there she was. A marked queen from last years new hive! I placed the queen and a bunch of workers in a hive box. I set the box next to the swarm and now all are marching into their new home.
Is this rare for swarms to go to the ground like this?
Was the queen clipped?
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It's good to see the swarm impulse move north. You guys and gals have fun.
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Hey yall, Im new here. Cumberland Va. Caught my first swarm today. It was huge. In a cherry tree above my neighbors hives. I had an extra box so I was able to capture them. Im thinking he dosent want to grow over his 2 existing hives so tommorrow, I will find out, I will raise them and give him the surplus honey. Had to climb the ladder twice, first trip I must have left her up there. Second trip the bees were flocking to the box and lots of fanning going on. Will see tommorrow I suppose. Thanks G
Well, I tried to post some images of this giant swarm, but got red flagged, :? I will share them somewhere else. Great beekeeping to you all, thought I had found another forum to frequent
Updated by eivindm:
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b561/eivindmork/DSC04456_zps5752ab1d.jpg) (http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/eivindmork/media/DSC04456_zps5752ab1d.jpg.html)
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b561/eivindmork/DSC04457_zps7812d960.jpg) (http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/eivindmork/media/DSC04457_zps7812d960.jpg.html)
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b561/eivindmork/DSC04459_zpsc5265476.jpg) (http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/eivindmork/media/DSC04459_zpsc5265476.jpg.html)
(http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b561/eivindmork/DSC04454_zps6db3301a.jpg) (http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/eivindmork/media/DSC04454_zps6db3301a.jpg.html)
Not much to get a reference from but that looks like the biggest swarm that I hve ever seen.
Jim
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jim, i was trying to scale it against the biggest ones i've ever seen. i've hived some that i think went over 5 pounds and this looks bigger.
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In my experience monster swarms are generally from two or more colonies and are the hardest to get to stay because they contain multiple laying queens and when you throw them both in the same hive one or both will abscond.
I always watch to see if great big swarms want to separate themselves into two or more groups and hive the separate groups 8' - 10' apart from each other. No harm really done if it turns out they are in fact only one swarm as the queenless group will re-join the other hive if that is the case.
Good luck to all.
Don
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another one hanging near the hives today.
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1-Tues from a managed hive that I helped another beekeeper catch,
1- Wed that wouldn't wait for me to get off work,
1 today (caught playing hooky :-D, hey some guys golf )
all in the KC area
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The bees are really swarming here in Central Arkansas.
I have filled about everything I've got with swarms.
I'm building tops and bottom boards for I'm out.
I figured after that last cold spell the hives would really be swarming.
I caught 4 today, 2 yesterday, 5 the day before and not counting the swarm traps I have out and the Trap Outs I'm doing.
I got into a mean swarm today, the owner said she requeened with a buckfast queen from Bee Weaver in Texas.
Them gals were mean'ern a wet banty hen on Sunday.
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I checked a swarm trap at my farm that I set last week. I saw a lot of scouts checking it out the day after I set it. Last night the door way was full of bees just before sunset. I will be taking it back to town tomorrow.
I will also place another one in the same location.
Jim
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I was allowed to take a basketball size swarm from a tree above a commercial beeks hive this morning. Mean girls lit me up on the wrist. About an hour later, i got a call from the lady who had the swarm i missed a few days ago. Another swarm in the nieghborhood. When i pulled up, i saw a swarm coming out of a cypress tree across the street. They never came down. Probably still sitting on a limb 30 feet up. Volleyball size. I caught the swarm she called about, on a chain link fence about 100 feet away from the tree. Football size. I have found another bee tree. Swarm traps next year, for sure. This is the 3rd small s2arm out of thatmtree this week. I am thinking i have a virgin queen here. Man, this is a blast. 8 hives now, if they stay.
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Another, approx 2lbs.. 1:00pm yesterday.
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I checked a swarm trap at my farm that I set last week. I saw a lot of scouts checking it out the day after I set it. Last night the door way was full of bees just before sunset. I will be taking it back to town tomorrow.
I will also place another one in the same location.
Jim
I checked on this trap yesterday, there were one or two bees at the door every time i looked at it but very little traffic. Not sure if they have moved in. I will let it bee for another week.
Jim
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I'm in west central Arkansas, caught my first swarm ever out of a TBH trap on 4/21. Large colony of healthy Italians by the look of them. New beek so I was thrilled. The bees in my avatar are from the capture...inspected and transferred Friday. So far so good if today's storms don't blow them away!
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northeast louisiana is the new swarm hot bed. hehehehehehehehe well be . i did find some thieves occupying a five frame nuc box with my secret sauce scenting it up close to the hummel apiary which is cleverly disguised as a backyard in the quaint town of west monroe, home of the fightin rebels.
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I went into the winter with the intention of building at least a dozen nuc boxes to set out for swarm traps. I knew where four feral colonies were located. It took forever to get the equipment I needed to build the nucs. I finally got some built, and installed 2 swarm traps a couple of weeks ago. As of today, both of those traps have a swarm in them. That's a pretty good success rate. I got some more ready to put out in their place when I move them this weekend.
I also caught a swarm this morning, 2-3 pounds, and put them in a double deep nuc. 3 last week; 1 today; 2 swarm traps filled. What a great start to the season.
With the larger swarms, I'm using a 2-deep, 5-frame nuc setup. I attach half inch ply as a bottom board and drill 2 one inch holes in the end for an entrance. I make migratory ply covers for them. i am planning on moving them to a 10-frame deep and adding an empty medium super after they get 3 of the bottom frames filled. Does this sound like a good idea to you folks???
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Caught a swarm today. They were deciding on the TBH and the swarm catcher...watched them off and on for a few hours then went to work..and sure enough they decided on the swarm catcher. We put them in the TBH...got the lid on and five minutes later it poured. Don't know where the swarm came from since we didn't see it on the fly...could have been one of my hives. Both have 2 deeps for brood and 3 med supers all partially drawn out.
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So what's wrong in the Dallas area? I see reports from Florida up to Michigan and even New Hampshire. I'm on several swarm lists and haven't seen anything here. My buddy needs to fill his deadout, so we have everything ready, but no calls. Are our bees slow to go, or are our beekeepers managing to avoid swarms? All I can do is read these reports and wish, I guess.
Gary
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In my experience monster swarms are generally from two or more colonies and are the hardest to get to stay because they contain multiple laying queens and when you throw them both in the same hive one or both will abscond.
I always watch to see if great big swarms want to separate themselves into two or more groups and hive the separate groups 8' - 10' apart from each other. No harm really done if it turns out they are in fact only one swarm as the queenless group will re-join the other hive if that is the case.
Good luck to all.
Don
Being my first swarm, I didnt know but have since heard the same, that it may have been 2, it was in a cherry tree right above his 2 boxes. On the bright side of things, they stayed put and are drawing foundationless comb and filling it fast!! Glad to have em. G
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Got another helpful hint about a swarm of bees in an oak tree. My wife said she went by there, no one was home, and she didn't see no swarm. So after work I swung by there. I saw the owners and ask them about the swarm. They pointed up in the tree and said, "See them? They coming out of that hole up there (30 ft). Been there a couple of years...
That's the second time this year that's happened. One day a swarm is going to slip up and BAM! I'll catch them :-D
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Swarms here in Central Arkansas were slow starting this year.
None in March and caught the first swarm April 4th.
I caught another swarm yesterday May 8th which makes 28 swarms so far this season.
It seems the swarms will let up and then a storm system will move thru and they start swarming again.
I've started putting homemade flower pot type swarm traps at the places I catch swarms and they are doing great using lemon grass oil and old comb.
I have 10 set out around town and 8 have bees in them.
I have caught nothing in traps using a queen pheromone scent.
I'm in the process now of building hives, I ran out after the tornado wiped out one of my beeyards.
(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/capt44/SwarmTrap5_zps6d2a7524.jpg)
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capt44, how long are you leaving the swarm in the pots? I've made a handful of 5 frame nucs and deployed them as swarm traps, and haven't had to do anything after they catch a swarm but bring the box down and put it where I want it. How often do you check these pots? how long do you leave the bees in there? how difficult is it to cut them out of the pot and get them to stay in a hive??? This may be a cheaper and easier way for me to do swarm traps.
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big one came out of a hive that was a 4 frame split on march 15th. it was a ten frame deep and i added a medium of foundation last week that it has drawn about half way and filled. 30 plus feet up, used the front end loader to shake the tree and finally just pushed it down. they moved to another tree. spent several hours shaking them then shaking them again. they just wouldn't go into the hive for some reason. i've been doing this for years and never had one that i got a lot of the bees into the hive that didn't stay.
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First swarm of 2014
East Liverpool, Ohio
4-5lb swarm 25' to 30' up in a pine tree.
Used a swarm catch bucket on an extension pole.
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Other than at Bud's I caught my fist swarm ever today. See my post on "What Happened?" 10framer suggested that I ought to go outside and look around in some trees to see if they had swarmed. I mentioned it to my wife before we walked out front. I had done forgot about it when I heard her say "I see it! I see it!" About 2/3rds the size of a foot ball, 25 ft up a hickory tree. I had a 27' extension ladder fully extended.
They were a little pissy. I got stung twice coming down the ladder with them. Thanks for the tip Rob!
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I collected my swarm today.
Massachusetts
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Caught a 6-7lb swarm in Canton. Ohio. 15ft up in pine tree. Cut branch, shook 'em in front of hive. Marched right in.
From an old bee tree. Filled an entire deep. (moved 'em to my main location)
Have two swarm traps set for the after-swarms. Nice survivor stock.
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Another nice one. 4-5lbs in a pear tree. Kirtland, Ohio. Season is 2 weeks late after our late spring.
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Last week I caught the 3rd swarm out of the same tree in a swarm trap I set up. I went in to inspect yesterday, after letting them sit in my yard for a several days. There is a beautifully marked queen in there. How convenient. I guess they are born that way now???? This really surprised me. None of my queens are marked, and that neon green dot was the last thing I expected to see. The marking looks brand new, so I am assuming that somebody installed a package that absconded in that area. I will ask around at the club meeting next week. If I can find the original owners, I will return them.
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I have 2 new swarms in traps at my farm. Both of them are looking good. I will hive them next week. One has a lot of bees bearding.
Jim
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Chux, you may want to approach that at a different angle. I'd keep my mouth shut and ears open. Then if nothing I'd drop a subtle hint by saying something like; "After what I read on the internet, I'm afraid if I buy another package they may take off." Or ask the question has anyone every heard of a package taking off?
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first one here yesterday, cent il, easy catch..
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Caught a swarm last night (6/4/14 in Kent WA). Was hanging about 6 feed off the ground in a small maple tree. Sprayed the bees with sugar water. Placed a box on the ground below the cluster and cut the branch from the tree. Shook the bees from the branch into the box and waited for those in the air to calm down. Within about 30 minutes there were only a few bees left in the air and those in the box where fanning. Closed and taped the lid, cut a few slots in the box to keep them ventilated and drove them home. When I got home it was already dark as it was now about 9:45PM. I setup a hive body and frames that were going to be put on my other hives this weekend. I was not prepared to get a new hive and had to come up with a makeshift bottom board. As it was dark I did not think it would be wise to shake the box of bees into the hive so I taped a chunk on old political sign to the top leaving space at the end for the bees to go down into the hive body, cut a hole in the side of the box the bees are in and turned it onto its side (hole down) onto the top of the hive. Taped the box down to the top of the hive body and put a board on top to keep the morning dew off the cardboard and help hold it down in case it got windy last night. I am hoping they will still be in my hive when I get home tonight... I guess they could leave if they want.... I am expecting to get home and find them in the hive and not in the box on top. I will remove the box, place a feeder and put the top on. Hope they make it! First swarm removal for me. What a joy!!
You can see a few pics of the swarm and retrieval at:
https://www.facebook.com/twolittleladiesapiary (https://www.facebook.com/twolittleladiesapiary)
Sorry there are not more, I was not able to take pics while working...
Thanks and I hope you enjoy this.
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Two swarm calls while here at work... hope they are there when I leave the office!
...DOUG
KD4MOJ
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Driving home from logging camp this afternoon I recovered a wild swarm on a tree along the logging road. All I had for a box was a grease cartridge box. I tossed out the grease tubes and shook them in. Then drove another hour and a half to get home and place them in a hive box. So far so good!
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Got a swarm about 7 or 8 pounds eight feet up a maple tree. Divided it in two deeps because I happened to have an extra queen. She came from a swarm that absconded a couple days earlier. When I brought that swarm home in a swarm trap, she wasn't even inside. I went back after the swarm absconded to re-hang the trap and there she was on the side of the tree! Talk about dumb luck!
On 6/6, I had a large swarm move into my greenhouse/bee-equipment storage building!
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Caught another one yesterday, three times as big as the first one.
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I hived 2 swarms this weekend at the farm. One covered 3 medium frames with another frame of brood hanging below 2 frames. The other one was in a 6 frame deep with large beards out front. It filled up a 10 frame medium even though I did not save any of the hanging drone comb. I had to add a super above it. They still were bearding out front the next day.
Looks like another 6 frame nuc has bees in it. Could bee lost bees but it did pretty active.
Jim
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Two swarm calls while here at work... hope they are there when I leave the office!
...DOUG
KD4MOJ
An update.... suckers took off 5 minutes before I arrived!!! ARGH!
...DOUG
KD4MOJ
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As luck would have it, I was going to move the swarm trap on top of some fencing so that I could put the fence up.... Fortunately/unfortunately a small swarm had occupied that rather ratty deep. Looks like there will be a delay until I can move them for a bit.
And I was afraid the feral bees had been nuked by the vicious winter....
8-)
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Two swarm calls while here at work... hope they are there when I leave the office!
...DOUG
KD4MOJ
An update.... suckers took off 5 minutes before I arrived!!! ARGH!
...DOUG
KD4MOJ
That's rough Doug.
I drove 45 minutes searched around and found a huge swarm in a tree. The top of the swarm was 10 feet off the ground but the bottom was at eye level. Walked back to my truck 10 feet away and heard the swarm take off. My wife asked me what to do. I told her, watch it. :-D
It was really neat. I was able to walk with the swarm right in the middle of it for about a mile.
I was surprised to see bees flying at me with thousands of bees above flying with me. Later I realized the scouts fly faster above the swarm then they drop below the swarm and fly to the back and fly above and faster than the swarm. The swarm follows the bees above them and ignore the ones below.
If you ever get the chance, try it, it's neat.
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My swarm of May 3.14 is still in my top bar hive.....and I have a swarm in my Squirrel box. Dont know how long it has been there....got home yesterday and there it was. been gone since May 5th.
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Hi to all.... I had a big swarm move-in to my nuc box that I store on the side yard - happens once or twice a year.....
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Clanton, Alabama. Swarm on side of someone's house. I opened the email from our beekeeper's association about 7 hours too late. Clanton's about 14.5 miles north of here. (Chilton County)
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Just cought 2 swarms this morning
hope they dont turn mean like the last swarm i cought
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I had a small swarm in a trap that was there between 1 to 3 weeks. Not sure when they moved in. Took 2 weeks before I saw them bringing in pollen. I checked it last night and they were gone. I will try to take time betweening extracting honey tonight to open it up and see what is in there.
Jim
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Stopped by my second yard after work yesterday and found two swarms in two Apple trees. One about 4 lds. And one about 1.5 . shook them into a bucket and a small box . brought them home and installed them into two nucs I had. Made about 20 nucs to do a mid summer spit on several of my bigger hives .guess I need to build some more. :)
John
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I had a small swarm in a trap that was there between 1 to 3 weeks. Not sure when they moved in. Took 2 weeks before I saw them bringing in pollen. I checked it last night and they were gone. I will try to take time betweening extracting honey tonight to open it up and see what is in there.
Jim
Update.
Opened this swarm trap last night. Found one newly hatched bee and thousands of small SHB larvae in the 3 new pieces of comb and a little bit of SHB larvae in the drawn frame that I put in this trap.
Good news, I opened the other swarm trap in my yard and it is packed with bees and drawn comb. A few weeks ago I opened this hive and found a handful of bees and a marked queen. I closed it up and was waiting to see if that tiny hive could survive.
I strongly suspect that my OH that absconded, took over this hive. I plan on putting it back in the OH. I will be looking to see if the queen is marked.
Jim
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Hi folks. I'm in S. W. Nova Scotia, Canada. I was called to a swarm yesterday and found it 19 feet in the air on a maple. Sharp slope below but managed to place my one ton truck and a 12 foot step ladder under, big plastic garbage can on top step and shake MOST of the swarm into the can, climb down, dump bees into my first TBH. Watching the remaining bees on the branch and the hive, bees re-clustering on the branch and exiting TBH. Up I go again and managed to shake the queen off on second try. Wrapped the TBH up good after dark and back to my place. I've only been keeping bees for 3 yrs. now and am very happy/excited about how well it works when planed out carefully. I am also currently running a trap-out at my mom's house and am really doing well there. Thanks to you generous contributors here on this form I am learning good methods to handle these kind of situations. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm. The honey is fantastic! No crops near so all marsh land and woods. This IS a dream come true. Thanks again. Paul
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Night before last I moved two hives from my backyard to an outyard about a mile away. Yesterday morning I noticed a few foragers hovering around so I put two empty hives in place. When I got home from work one of the hives had a cluster a little bigger than a softball on the side. Thought a bunch had returned. Went to paw them into the box and noticed a big fat queen amongst them. I caged her and gave them some brood and honey. Went through the two moved hives and both have their queens. Swarm #5.
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2 weeks ago I moved my hives back to my house in town. Had one empty hive on the ground that just had 4 drawn frames in the bottom super and 1 drawn frame in the top super, all of which were flopped sideways a little. I had used this hive as a table to move a swarm out of a swarm trap that was above this location, into my observation hive that following Friday. We went on vacation and when we returned my wife told me that there were a lot of bees coming and going from it.
I tried to open it last night when I realized that a dark area under the screen top board was the bees on comb attached to screen. I had to slide the STB a little to the side and cut the comb off the 2 side walls of the corner. One large section of comb dropped into the bottom. I set a PVC chair on its side and used it to bee able to hang the STB so that I could cut out the comb under the screen and put it into a hive. Ended up with 4 frames of new, very soft comb and I put the other drawn combs that they were starting to use in the hive and put it back in the original location.
Because I have so many hives in this yard, i will have to move it slowly to its new location.
Jim
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I was called to this scene last week!!
After 2 hours of hard work I got them all safe!
(http://s15.postimg.org/u2x16cdgr/4e008d89b128cd0eaa68463cbef2b76521a7837c65de66d6.jpg)
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I was called to this scene last week!!
After 2 hours of hard work I got them all safe!
(http://s15.postimg.org/u2x16cdgr/4e008d89b128cd0eaa68463cbef2b76521a7837c65de66d6.jpg)
That is beautiful.
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That is a good looking hive Laurie.
Jim
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I wish I could claim it but it belongs to Davidawbrown.
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There doing well in there new home!
(Was a bit nerve racking getting them out of there though!)
Hands were shaking a little!
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There doing well in there new home!
(Was a bit nerve racking getting them out of there though!)
Hands were shaking a little!
That is not a bad thing. We must keep in mind, if you do not handle them properly, they can kill us.
Not that we should fear them, so can your dog, and most of our farm animals. We just have to respect them.
Jim
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Caught one yesterday after work. I'd say 4 or 5 pounds. They wouldn't fit in a 5 frame nuc so I used two 8f mediums. I figured they came from one of my hives. Dang sure was a lot of bees. I like to lost them. They were in for a while then started coming out and flying around. So I started misting them with water from a spray bottle. They started looking for a dry spot then. ...a swarm in july..,
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Had one of mine swarm on Monday. Lucky I was already about to work the bees anyway! Landed about 25 feet up a cedar tree. Got out the tree climbing gear and was able to retrieve them.
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Caught another one today. I saw it coming out of the box while I was picking corn in the garden. I've have another hive that I'm afraid I missed. I wanted to let some return to the wild but on my terms ;)
I have a scratch retina (eyeball) as of 4:30 this morning. Dang it hurts!! Dr helped it for a couple of hours then the numbing med wore off. It's been hard getting around today and doing the things I wanted to.
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Caught another one today. I saw it coming out of the box while I was picking corn in the garden. I've have another hive that I'm afraid I missed. I wanted to let some return to the wild but on my terms ;)
I have a scratch retina (eyeball) as of 4:30 this morning. Dang it hurts!! Dr helped it for a couple of hours then the numbing med wore off. It's been hard getting around today and doing the things I wanted to.
I learned to wear safety glasses after my last eyeball scratch. Climbing around in a tree!
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Had another swarm take up residence in my empty "bait" hive. (Almost a shame since that oddball box is 9 3/8 and I can't stack it on anything) No idea how big yet. Had just finished applying MAQS to all the other hives and had gone back to apply a couple drops of lemongrass oil since I noticed a few scouts poking around. Since I took my time (45-60 minutes) cleaning-up and putting things away I missed seeing them arrive.
I guess it's hopguard for these ladies in a couple of days. No sealed brood and everyone treated.
The other hives are already kicking some of the drones out. Winter is coming.
8-)
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Caught yet another one coming out of my hives.
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Had a few swarm calls this year.. All but one were gone by the time I got there.. Pulled in to one location and watched them disperse and vanish over the trees... I believe we lost too many Feral hives last winter, they have plenty of ready made places to go this year.. but I did get lucky when doing an appraisal for a cut out.. the fellow I was talking to frowned, looking over my shoulder... "What is that in that bush over there?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7_g-E7RoVs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7_g-E7RoVs)
Pay attention you can see the queen come out on the surface of the cluster twice... I was getting a little frustrated with vanishing swarms, so this little swarm eased the pressure that was building...
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Just caught a swarm in my swarm catcher. I have been concerned about the "squirrel box" (now bee box) getting overcrowded and no way to increase size so I set up the swarm catcher. I think they moved in the same afternoon. My neighbor is going to take them on Monday...
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Got a call this morning that a cloud of bees showed up and settled on a tree limb.
They were about 5 ft off the ground and I bumped the bees into my swarm bucket. (vented bucket)
I have them in a hive now getting accustomed to their new home.
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Caught another one in my yard today. I think I've missed at least two in the last 10 days. Oh well, they'll be back in a year or two :-D
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Had a few swarm calls this year.. All but one were gone by the time I got there.. Pulled in to one location and watched them disperse and vanish over the trees... I believe we lost too many Feral hives last winter, they have plenty of ready made places to go this year.. but I did get lucky when doing an appraisal for a cut out.. the fellow I was talking to frowned, looking over my shoulder... "What is that in that bush over there?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7_g-E7RoVs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7_g-E7RoVs)
Pay attention you can see the queen come out on the surface of the cluster twice... I was getting a little frustrated with vanishing swarms, so this little swarm eased the pressure that was building...
Just watched the video,
Very nice!
Regards
Dave
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Just caught a swarm hanging off the sides of one of my boxes. It was probably 2 double handfuls of bees. After swarm? I'll look for the queen later if they are still around. Took one inside the nose for the team, yea team :-x
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On Wednesday I removed an open air hive that was just started. It was about 7' off the ground and was almost the size of a football with only one little piece of comb in the middle with brand new eggs only. I backed my pickup truck under the nest to make it easy to work. I vacuumed them up. I thought about shaking them into the box but there was so much Spanish moss in the mass of bees that I figured that not many of them would release. They are very gentle bees, no protection, did not even light the smoker, and no stings. I poured them into a nuc when I got home and saw the queen as she went down into the box. I gave them 2 drawn frames and I had an old shallow drawn frame that had a hole that the piece of wax, with eggs, fit perfectly. I just pushed it in place and put it in the hive. The nuc is a new one that has a STB and a SBB. When I pull honey next week I will have to give them at least 3 frames for them to make it through the winter. I will bee spreading honey frames around to the hives that are light.
Jim
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was trying to down size. Darn caught another swarm.