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Greensboro swarms 3/20 - 3/22

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2023 12:38 pm
by reedyfork
3/20: I am here to dispel the myth that it has to be really warm for bees to swarm. I watched two of my hives on Monday send out multiple small afterswarms at the same time. It was only 46 degrees (but sunny) at lunchtime when this occurred! Note the small groups in the holly, on the side of the house, on the gutter, and on the backside of another hive. I ended up giving them time to organize, and eventually collected three separate small groups.
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3/21: Was home to see this one come to my yard from afar (not mine!). They conveniently collected about 1' off the ground, and I didn't have to do anything except slide a hive right up to them.
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3/22: Like Jacobs, I got a call on Wed from an adjacent neighborhood about a swarm about 8' off the ground next to someone's driveway. In the cool drizzle, the bees weren't happy to be bothered! They had been there a day or two, and it's the first time in 5 years that I actually smelled the "banana" alarm pheromone.
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