Guilfordbeekeepers.org

I picked up this one yesterday afternoon(4/1/25) in Greensboro. I estimate it at 2lbs.

I'm playing with a modified Demaree hive now. My queen, capped brood, and some feed/open comb went below the excluder. I added an Imirie shim above the excluder. Next came a super of honey, and then the super of uncapped brood. I went in at day 7 and day 10 and knocked down any queen cells started i...

Swarm-3-30-25_IMG_0091.jpg This swarm came from a hive I had already removed the queen from. The unmarked queen in this swarm is in a catcher clip. I have a hard time believing that she is mated given when I saw swarm cells and removed the marked queen. While I was collecting my swarm, I had a call...

Joe cuts a strip of cardboard about 4-6 inches high. It needs to be long enough to go in front of the landing board and also go a few inches on each side of the hive. He tapes this strip so that the landing board is boxed in on all sides. The space above the landing board is open and the bees have t...

After around the 5th day, I removed the cardboard.

It looks like you got it right. I moved a nuc using the same method about a week ago. Around 8-10 foragers would go back to the original location for 3 or 4 days. After that, I could see bees orienting to the new location as they emerged. It wasn't perfect, but it was easier than moving the bees a c...

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.

I would give it a couple of days in the clip. Also, consider adding a frame of open brood from one of your other hives to help anchor them in.

My vote is extract, store the sugar syrup honey in 5 gallon buckets or similar storage, and feed back to the bees after the flow. With the cost of feed these days, I'd want it going to where it is most needed. The winter before last, I extracted sugar water "honey" for some first year beek...

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 th...

I just received a text and video from a beekeeper asking for advice about hiving a swarm that apparently came from one of her hives while she was at work today. It appears to be very large, located at the bottom of a fence post, and she has a deep hive up against the cluster. It appears that a numbe...

I just got a call from Summerfield about the arrival of a swarm. It is about 18 feet up on the side of a house and may be moving in to the soffit. I gave the caller the name and number of the youngest member of the swarm list who covers that zone. I don't see anyone trying to go up a ladder to reach...

Swarms are a good way of increasing hives. They are natural comb building machines, or, if placed on open drawn comb, can make a honey crop. Another way of increasing hive count is by attempting to keep your current hives from swarming. I found about 4 of my hives in swarm mode so far. I got in earl...

The leatherleaf mahonia and flowering quince are very late this year. I expect to see them in December if the fall is warm, and more likely in January. They have been blooming for awhile, but have not finished. I'm seeing early cherry trees and now, redbuds. For the last few days, I have been smelli...

I have 2 bait hives being scouted at the house this afternoon. The one I posted about on March 13th is getting more interest than it did then. The other bait hive is in the tulip poplar I had cut to a 10 foot post last year (https://guilfordbeekeepers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2668). I have a bait h...

I found 1 more of the house hives in swarm mode today. I was able to move the marked queen into a nuc and will wait to see what happens.

I went through 3 of the stronger looking hives at my house yesterday afternoon. The one that over wintered in 2-10 frame mediums was in swarm mode with multiple queen cells. None of the cells were capped and several were damaged when I separated supers to have a look at bottom bars of frames. I did ...

I spoke to Mark Case yesterday. He is in Randolph County, but with his bee activities doing removals, appearing as a weather spotter/bee person on the Good Morning Show on Sundays, he casts a wide net. He said he received 6 swarm calls on Tuesday and farmed some of those out based on time constraint...

One of my bait hives at the house is being examined. It may not be chosen, but there is definite interest in it.

I saw my first drones flying at the house this afternoon. Drones were flying out of or returning to at least 3 different hives.