Swarm 4.22.25-Gotem with a leaf blower-with pics

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royl
Guard bee
Posts: 101
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 10:22 am

Swarm 4.22.25-Gotem with a leaf blower-with pics

Post by royl »

Around 11 am, I saw one of my hives swarming. I started spraying swarm commander and making a tinging sound with a crow and pry bar. Since it was cloudy, only a small group were interested in landing where I wanted them to go (I find that swarm commander works best on sunny days).

Mark Case once told me to try spraying swarm commander and using a leaf blower to get the scent up in the air. So, I did. I have a Lowes battery operated leaf blower and sprayed some swarm commander in the back of it. The swarm was probably 65 feet in the air when I started aiming the blower. Sure enough, they started coming down. I had no equipment ready. So I placed the blower on the ground and ran to my shed to grab an empty hive.

By the time I got back the swarm was covering my blower, like inside and out. I grabbed a frame of dark comb and placed it on the cluster and they all started marching out and on to it. Once I saw the queen, I placed the frame in the empty hive. The tough part was trying to get the bees out of the blower. Some I was able to gently shake out, but quite a few were stuck in the housing. I placed the leaf blower on top and lucky they were able to march out. I ended up having to disassemble the blower to get a few dozen out that were stuck. I got it all done before my next meeting at work.

Check out some of the pictures and the video. You'll see the queen on the frame.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dbg3qSBonEbVX1hW6
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