Swarm almost Caught 5/27/21

[Jacobs]

The fun thing about beekeeping is bees will do things you have never seen before. I stepped out of my back door at 8:15 this evening to see my bees generally calm, but with loud buzzing in the air. A swarm had arrived at my bait hive on my driveway pad, but did not look like it was settling in. I saw bees in the air near the back of my truck and then a group of bees on the driveway. I was able to catch a glimpse of a queen as she walked behind the rear passenger side tire of my truck. I got a frame of old, dark comb and laid it against the tire. One side filled with bees and I put it in a nuc at the tire. Some bees marched in, but not many. Bees clumped on the back of the tire and I scooped them up and put them on the landing board of the nuc. They fanned a good bit, but the bees still did not march in. Bees have re-clumped on the back of the tire. I'm not sure how many are still in the nuc. I plan to check it out in the morning when it it light enough to see. I had seen no scouting at the bait hive, so this arrival was a surprise. My best guess is that the bees intended to move into the bait hive, but the queen fell short. If they don't move into the nuc, they may be letting the queen recover strength with the intent to complete the flight to the bait hive in the morning.