Guilfordbeekeepers.org

One of my over wintered nucs swarmed at 11:00 am today. As the swarm issued, I put a small spray of Swarm Commander on a nearby bait hive, but this did not stop the bees from heading upward. I used my metal jack stand piece and a tack hammer to tang the bees. They came down and appeared to follow this sound down to the bait hive. The bees did not enter it or gather over where Swarm Commander was sprayed. I did see the marked queen on the top of the bait hive and was able to get her in a catcher clip. The bees eventually joined her in a 10 frame medium hive I set up.

Nice catch!

It's a good thing I did not release the queen from the clip today. The bees tried to leave around 2:00pm but returned when the queen did not leave with them. I'll put a frame of open brood in tomorrow and consider releasing her on Saturday.