Caught my first swarm today, quite by accident. Got a voice mail yesterday evening about a swarm in a tree outside a business. When I called back, another beekeeper had already taken the swarm. The shop owner then said the main colony is still in the eaves of the building... been there for three years now, but no one is willing to tackle the job. I went this morning to check it out for a trap-out (which should be an easy prospect as it has a flat roof next to the girls' front door).
While looking things over, I happened to look up into the tree that had yesterday's swarm and found, not one, but four more swarms. Each was about the size of an apple. I figure they were stragglers from yesterday's swarm. Just happened to have a nuc box with frames and foundation in the truck, along with a veil and gloves. :-D After borrowing a 12 foot step ladder and taking aloft my handy-dandy hand snips, I went apple picking....
That's when the real fun began, as I forgot to mention that this was on the main street through town and big rigs were cruising by as I was aloft. Yep, must be crazy 8-)
On the bright side, the neighborhood preschool was letting out and I had some youngsters and their parents watching and asking questions. That was the really, really fun part....
Wish I had photos, but I wasn't actually planning on doing any "work". I will definitely need to add the digital camera to my box o' tools.
Topic: First Swarm (Read 1966 times)