Swarm-6/12/15 & Swarm Week
Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:00 pm
Swarm activity is up at my hives at the house and mine and David's in McLeansville. On June 10th David collected an almost tennis ball sized swarm in my back yard. We saw a small queen, so we put it in a nuc box and added a frame of brood and nursebees from another hive. We will check it in a few days. On June 12th, we collected what I think was a 7-8 pound swarm behind our hives in McLeansville. Unfortuately, when we checked them yesterday morning, they had left. They must have been there awhile and had already located their new home. We probably should have packed them up and carried them the 10 miles to home.
Last night, David saw a swarm behind his garage in his back yard. They were going high, but he tanged them down. Stadiem and I got there in time to help him vacuum them and put them in his hive. They had gathered in a dogwood right in front of my bait hive, but did not go in it. This morning, they had left David's hive and gone back to the tree at the entrance of my bait hive. Again, they did not go in it. I vacuumed them again, put lemongrass oil on one of David's frames and put a pillow case leading from the ground to the entrance of the hive. I dumped the bees on the pillow case and they marched into the hive. They appear to have anchored in. I had hoped to see the queen march in and get her in a queen clip. I had left room in the hive for the clip, but I did not see her. This afternoon, we checked and found that the queen was my red marked queen that has been in a nuc for 21 months since I picked up a swarm in the fall of 2013. She never was a prolific layer and I would have voted that hive "least likely to swarm." This was not an abscond, because there is still activity in my nuc.
She is now David's problem.
Last night, David saw a swarm behind his garage in his back yard. They were going high, but he tanged them down. Stadiem and I got there in time to help him vacuum them and put them in his hive. They had gathered in a dogwood right in front of my bait hive, but did not go in it. This morning, they had left David's hive and gone back to the tree at the entrance of my bait hive. Again, they did not go in it. I vacuumed them again, put lemongrass oil on one of David's frames and put a pillow case leading from the ground to the entrance of the hive. I dumped the bees on the pillow case and they marched into the hive. They appear to have anchored in. I had hoped to see the queen march in and get her in a queen clip. I had left room in the hive for the clip, but I did not see her. This afternoon, we checked and found that the queen was my red marked queen that has been in a nuc for 21 months since I picked up a swarm in the fall of 2013. She never was a prolific layer and I would have voted that hive "least likely to swarm." This was not an abscond, because there is still activity in my nuc.
She is now David's problem.