Guilfordbeekeepers.org

I've already posted about a second swarm from this hive, but today it issued what I thought was a large 3rd swarm. Swarm Commander and tanging brought it down at my poplar. I located the queen and got her in a clip, then scooped bees into the hive. Many weren't staying and were going back to the pop...

I got a text and picture of a swarm in the same bush as yesterday's swarm. It was in an easier place to get so I shook it into my swarm bucket. Just about as soon as I had it hived, a beekeeper I have been mentoring texted me about a swarm over and behind the Arboretum bees. They settled on some jun...

I got a text from Dennis at the Greensboro Arboretum about a small swarm a few feet from my bees. I don't know if it was the after swarm of a hive that had been in full swarm mode, or a swarm from the other hive that I had removed the old queen and some bees from. I got the queen in a clip, brought ...

I may, but not this season.

This afternoon's swarm issued from the hive I have been trying with the modified Demaree method of swarm prevention. This makes the second swarm from this hive. It was smaller than the first. I would not call this test a success.

If you are a current member of GCBA, all you need to do is look at the list and determine which zones you are willing to go to. E mail me at robertjjacobs@aol.com, with your name, cell phone number, and selected zones. I will add you to the list.

I don't know of any. I'm seeing darker queens more often. I don't know if it has to do with the majority of drones in my area being dark. It has been this way for several years now. I'm almost shocked when I see a golden drone.

Good luck royl. I had fun yesterday as well. I picked up about a medium and a half frames of bees beside the basketball courts at Barber Park yesterday afternoon. They were on the ground right beside the courts where children were playing. While park employees were very concerned, they calmed down w...

I got a call this afternoon from folks who had bees landing on their car. I could not figure out what was going on by their description and had somewhere to be later in the afternoon, so I took a ride over to see what was up. There was a small swarm about 9 feet up in a tree/bush by the driveway and...

I was doing a quick check of the 4/8/25 swarm around 12:30pm when the overwintered nuc threw another swarm. The bees are swarming out of the equivalent space of a single 10 frame deep. I used Swarm Commander and tanging to bring it down and got the unmarked queen in a clip. I know for sure that this...

I looked out at the fig bushes in the back of my yard yesterday around 10:30am and saw about a 2lb cluster of bees. I think they must have come out on Tuesday after I left for the GCBA meeting. I don't believe they would have come out yesterday morning, with temperatures what they were--even if we w...

Let's hope we get a few extra degrees of warmth overnight.

Modified Demaree-4-5-25_IMG_0093.jpg I tried the modified Demaree method on one of my hives with the theory being the hive doesn't swarm and the large foraging force makes honey. My result is what may be the largest swarm ever to issue from one of my home hives. Swarm Commander on the front of my b...

A clear case of incurable "bee fever."

She called me as well. I told her she either needed a friend with a bucket truck or a bow and arrow where they could shoot a rope over a branch and haul a box up to the cluster. I didn't think to tell her about trying to shoot the branch out of the tree. Essentially, I told her to wish the swarm wel...

When I got the call, the homeowners were describing bees in the air, on the low branch of a tree, and then in the air. While I was trying to figure out what they were describing, they discovered the bees had left the branch and were now on the curb. When the queen has trouble flying, she will land w...

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...