2017 Bee hive swarm information, history, lessons, successes, etc.

[babsbag]

My bees were busy little bees today. I wanted to go and and look at them but I was waiting for a phone call from DH wanting a ride home (he was hoping to get discharged from the hospital today and 3 hour drive for me to go get him) so I didn't take a peek. The phone call never came so now it will be the same tomorrow. I will get in them the first sunny day after DH gets home. The flowers and weeds around here are amazing this year so they ought to be quite happy and I want to prevent a swarm if I can. I gave them 3 deep boxes instead of the normal two so will be interesting to see what they do with them.

I noticed my neighbor's friend brought about 20 hives back to my neighbor's property so I should get a trap set out as I bet he has some bees swarm eventually.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Babs,

I hope your hubby is doing fine now. Is everything ok? I sure hope so.

Lots of nearby bee colonies? Yep, hang those swarm traps all over the place and get ready to reap lots of rewards!

PS Mount Shasta Ski Park currently has 120 inches of snow...hmmmm...drought over?

 

[Happy Chooks]

HC,

I would gladly welcome an empty hive as a swarm trap, but I would not leave any honey in it due to attracting robber bees...

I would recommend closing the entrance to 1 square inch, placing a couple of frames of old, dark comb, then rub with lemon grass oil or spray with a lure.

My same swarm trap had a new crowd of scout bees checking out their new motel today...if all goes right, should have a new swarm within next couple of days...

It is closed down to the most narrow opening on the entrance reducer. Good idea on the lemongrass oil, I'll do that tomorrow.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Today, it began to finally warm up and we saw scout bees all over all three swarm traps...should have swarms 2, 3, and 4 within the next couple of days. I think swarm season is just beginning here and it is much later than normal due to the excess rain and cool weather we have had this spring and winter...

Time to get ready for lots of new beehives!

Yea team!

 

[soarwitheagles]

UPDATE: Swarm #2 of 2017 arrived two days ago. I have been too busy to move it into a box. Hope to do so later this week.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Moved swarm into a bee box. They had already built a large amount of comb and had made a lot of honey too. The honey looked perfect, but wasn't sweet which is very strange to me...first time I have ever seen this...​

 

[soarwitheagles]

Caught two more swarms today. Wow, local bee hives are very active at this time of the year...

 

[babsbag]

Honey that isn't sweet??? That's a strange one for sure. Maybe they weren't done with it, was it capped? Good deal catching swarms, I really should just set a box out and see what happens. I have some old boxes in the shed and I had the door open and the bees were all over them; most likely my bees but you never know what might show up.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Wow, caught 3 swarms in the last 4 days. Not sure what is going on...never seen this before. I placed a new swarm trap 1.5 days ago, came home today, and found a swarm on the inside and the outside of the new trap. The outside bunch of bees appear to have taken geometry classes...they made a near perfect pyramid. So strange. So wonderful. So sweet.

Oh, our eucalyptus forest just began to start blooming. I am still trying to figure out what is happening. These are not our bees. I am wondering if these are feral bees or if some commercial beekeeper moves a large number of hives nearby...we are averaging nearly one swarm catch per day...

 

[babsbag]

Oh the honey they must be making with all those flowers in addition to all the wildflowers this year. How sweet it is.