April 6, 2013 Swarm

[Jacobs]

David, Stadiem and I went to David and my hives in Summerfield this afternoon. The idea was to check on David's hives and to split mine. We arrived to find one of mine beginning to split itself. They were cooperative enough to go about 15 feet away and cluster a little over a foot off the ground on a small cedar. I had planned to move the queen and some bees into two medium nuc boxes to start with. The swarm took 3 medium nuc boxes and will probably need more room. If they stay settled in, I will move them into 2-10 frame mediums.

I moved the queen and 10 medium frames into a nuc from another of the hives and will go back and look at my 3rd hive tomorrow when David and I go back to split one of his strong hives.

Now that we have a decent warm stretch it looks like the swarming games are beginning in earnest.

[Wally]

Brandon says he has a swarm trap on the roof of his place of employment now, so you can let your hives at home start swarming. He will send you a thank you card if they take his box.

[Jacobs]

If they decide to go high, I will try and get them to go in his direction!