Swarm-10/3/17 (9/28/17)

[Jacobs]

I got a call this afternoon about honey bees in a tree. They had been there since last Thursday.

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I poked my finger in the cluster and found no comb, so I started vacuuming the bees. Once started, there was about a 1 square inch area of new comb. The bees must have been starving when they left home or they used all comb building honey hanging on and looking for a place to go. Once I had the bees in my swarm bucket, I located the queen and got her in a clip. I put the bees in a nuc with 2 frames of drawn comb. I put sugar water in 3 sides of the comb, and reduced the entrance to about 3 bees wide. Tomorrow I will release the queen, put 3 more frames in and start serious feeding. Once I see if this queen is laying I will try and figure what to do with this 1000+ bee "swarm."

[WannaBee1]

Isn't that unusual for them to hang around that long? I wonder if it has to do with the time of year. Please keep us posted on your latest capture, Rob. Nice job!