Swarm Out of Reach

[The15thMember]

Well my luck finally ran out (after 5 years!), and I had a hive swarm and land up too far in a tree for me to reach them with a ladder.  I'm surprised they swarmed right now, because we are having on and off rain that is due to continue all day.  It took about 10 minutes for them to even decide where to settle because of the weather.  They picked the trunk of an old dogwood about 15-20 ft. off the ground, and they aren't hanging nicely, they are spread all down the trunk trying to stay out of the weather.  I'm thinking the rain may force a decision out of them quickly, so I'm going to set up a hive sort of like a swarm trap and see if they pick it.  Any other ideas about how to get them?  I'll post a picture of where they are when/if it stops raining. 

[The15thMember]

Here's some pictures.

[Ben Framed]

You might try this good idea posted recently by beesnweeds. He is always coming up with good stuff!

It?s like an Easter Egg hunt.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Instead of hoping you can find and catch your swarms you can toss a rope over the branch and pull up a Russian scion or an old brood frame with a roof on it.  That way you can just lower them into a box.

[The15thMember]

I did see that on the other thread, but the trouble is I don't have a nuc box (I know, I know, I should really get one).  This tree also doesn't really have a good place to toss a rope over that I would trust it to hold. 

[Ben Framed]

Maybe you can try using a empty brood frame? Beach nothing? And you might get lucky :-). But you did mention the rain so I don?t know if you can catch it after the rain ends?

[The15thMember]

Maybe you can try using an empty brood frame? Beats nothing? And you might get lucky :-)

Maybe.  It might be worth a shot, especially if they end up being stuck up there all day in the rain.  Perhaps they'll become more desperate if they end up spending the night.  If the rain stops, I'll get out my binoculars and try and see if they are debating locations yet. 

[The15thMember]

I set up one medium in the apiary, bated with dark comb and LGO, and another one on top of the buck barn, which is about 4-5 feet off the ground and a decent ways away from the bee yard.  Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll pick one of those options.  It was really raining for about an hour, but it seems to have stopped now, so I'll go see if they are discussing things yet.   

[The15thMember]

No dancing that I could see.  The outer mantle of bees is in umbrella mode, everyone stationary with their wings open, and there are no more than five scouts flying around the cluster.  The rain has picked up again.  Poor girls, this whole endeavor was just poorly planned.     

[The15thMember]

The rain finally stopped, and if I'm reading the dances correctly, they found the box I put in the buck pen, but they aren't that into it, so we'll see. 

[Terri Yaki]

The rain finally stopped, and if I'm reading the dances correctly, they found the box I put in the buck pen, but they aren't that into it, so we'll see. 

What do you see in the dances that give an indication?

[Salvo]

Hi 15,

Fake OJ and VODKA!

https://youtu.be/lHnndSxicGo

Keep beating that drum!

Sal

[The15thMember]

What do you see in the dances that give an indication?

So the angle of the dance with respect to the vertical denotes the angle of the site with respect to the sun, the duration of the dance run indicates the distance, and the severity of the waggle indicates how excited the bee is about the prospective location.  When I was watching them, I saw only one dancer, and she was indicating a location that seemed close to where I put this hive, but her waggle was pretty meh.  I walked down into the pasture a little ways to look at the trap to see if there were any scouts at it.  I didn't see any, and then I rescued one of our new baby goats who had accidentally escaped from his mom's pen.  All that took about 5 minutes or so, and when I got back up to the swarm, that original bee wasn't dancing any more, and the duration of the entire dance is also an indicator for swarm scouts.  Another bee had picked up the dance though, which was a good sign, but she also didn't seem overly excited about it based on her waggle.  It's pouring again, and now thundering, so I'm sure the debaters have taken a recess again.   

Hi 15,

Fake OJ and VODKA!

https://youtu.be/lHnndSxicGo

Keep beating that drum!

Sal

This actually would have been a perfect opportunity to test tanging, since they weren't keen to sit down anywhere.  I forgot about it in the moment unfortunately.  It was actually raining though, and that didn't stop them, so . . . . 

[Ben Framed]

Terri, Van From Arkansas (Mr Van) wrote a piece explaining the waggle dance. I miss him posting here very much! He had great insight and was a great mentor to both Reagan and I, as well as many others!
I am placing the link below where he explained the dance for your benefit as well as others who might be interested.


https://beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=51143.msg451249#msg451249

[BeeMaster2]

Reagan,
I recommend that you put a frame of brood in the swarm trap closest to the hive. Just make sure it doesn?t have a queen on it. That is your best chance of catching them.
Jim Altmiller

[The15thMember]

Reagan,
I recommend that you put a frame of brood in the swarm trap closest to the hive. Just make sure it doesn?t have a queen on it. That is your best chance of catching them.
Jim Altmiller

Thanks, I can try that tomorrow.  It was too rainy to open a hive today. 

[cao]

I've got an extendable painter's pole with a bucket attached to reach the high ones.  I have also tied a frame of old comb on the end and stuck it in the swarm to get them.

[The15thMember]

I've got an extendable painter's pole with a bucket attached to reach the high ones.

That sounds like a great tool for something like this.  If it keeps happening, that might be a good investment.

I have also tied a frame of old comb on the end and stuck it in the swarm to get them.

They are taking quite a beating out there right now, it's raining hard and it's pretty windy, so I imagine they will be pretty worn out by morning.  I have this sense, which may or may not be accurate, that they may be more keen to latch onto something like that when they are more desperate, so I will probably try this first tomorrow. 

[Ben Framed]

No one has mentioned a bee vac yet on this topic.

I like my bee vac, but this type of swarm is where I 'love' my bee vac...

Phillip

[Michael Bush]

Set up a prime swarm trap at the base of the tree.  An old box if you have one.  Old brood comb, if you have it.  Some lemongrass oil.  Four drops inside.  8 or so around the entrance.  Some QMP if you have it (Queen juice or Psuedoqueen) if you can get it.  This works more than half the time especially if they haven't already started homing in on a location.

[Terri Yaki]

4 and 8? I need to up my game.