Swarm-7/18/19

[Jacobs]

Swarm_71819_IMG_3307.JPG (60.6 KiB) Viewed 6690 times

I got a call from a beekeeper about a swarm from one of her hives. These bees have very swarmy genetics. I picked up an early season swarm there and I have managed to keep the bees in the box by making 3 hives of the one. I had to do a quick shake down into my swarm bucket and take what I could get because a huge storm was blowing in. I took about 15 stings on the arms and on my stomach and back. I was happy to hear that the family was able to get some honey this year between all of the swarms they have captured and hived. At least the bees are generally cooperative and go to the same tree at a height fairly easy to deal with.

[DuaneB]

From what I can see in the picture, that looks like a good size swarm. Any indication why they left?

[Jacobs]

They may just have been crowded. The queens these folks have and the ones I have gotten from the swarms and by making queens are prolific layers. This swarm had bees on all frames of a 10 frame medium and they had mostly drawn out 9 undrawn wax foundation frames in a little less than 3 days. I took a look yesterday and saw the queen. She was not laying yet but some bees were bringing in pollen