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

[Latestarter]

That's awesome! Well you wanted this last year and it seems it's happening this. Grats on the good bee finder/catcher luck!

 

[soarwitheagles]

Thank you babs and LS. Well, came home today and another swarm flew into a swarm trap. This is 4 swarms in 5 days I believe...and I am beginning to lose track! Nice problem to have!

Stayed up way too late last night making new hive boxes and moving the large swarm into our bee yard. My bottom was dragging all day at work. I need to wait for the weekends to do this stuff!

 

[babsbag]

I just ordered some lure off of eBay.

 

[soarwitheagles]

babs,

A friend of mine said I will probably be able to split this large swarm into 4 or more very large nucs. At the present rate of bloom and build up, those nucs with a mated queen will be turned into full blown hives within one month.

Give or take a few dollars, that swarm was like a $600 or $800 dollar bill that just dropped out of the sky and landed on our property.

I still do not know why this is happening so suddenly and so abundantly. I do highly recommend you place some traps ASAP with some good swarm lure, 2-3 frames of OLD comb, and hardware cloth over a one inch hole...

We are also seeing swarms fly into a number of our old hive boxes in our bee yard, hives that were completely dead, and now these boxes are completely full of bees with a laying queen.

For us, this is an ongoing miracle.

What an amazing year for keeping bees!

PS We are scrambling to build as many new boxes as possible. I just finished 10 new boxes, primed them this evening...at this rate, we may need to build another 50 boxes...

 

[soarwitheagles]

Caught another swarm today. They simply do not appear to be letting up. What an incredible year for catching swarms!

 

[Latestarter]

Maybe all the (negative/positive) attention the bees have been getting the past 5-10 years has finally started paying some dividends. Then again, it might just be all the rain/snow moisture you folks have gotten and NOT being in a perpetual drought. Whatever it is, glad to hear it!

 

[babsbag]

Your boxes look great, very professional job. Is there a particular lure you like or do they all seem to work? I have the lemongrass oil already and the lures are on their way. Not sure about putting these in a tree, but we'll see how time goes.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Wow, you are super busy! That is awesome!

I'm glad your eucalyptus flow is finally coming. I know you expected it last year, but this year it will probably be better with all of the rain we had. Here, the bees are working the yellow clover. Catalpa has yet to bloom. The blackberries are starting to bud, so it won't be long until they are in bloom.

I'm still trying to get hive #1 set up with a queen. I found what looked like a capped queen cell, but it was a month after I put in a frame of eggs. There is zip, zero, zilch for brood/eggs, so there may be a virgin in the hive that hasn't started laying yet. I added another frame of eggs just in case. They still have that queenless pissy attitude, so I figured it's better to be safe than sorry. I'll check in another week or so and see if they made any queen cells from the eggs I just put in.

Hive #2 is doing great, so they will be ready for honey making!

 

[soarwitheagles]

Maybe all the (negative/positive) attention the bees have been getting the past 5-10 years has finally started paying some dividends. Then again, it might just be all the rain/snow moisture you folks have gotten and NOT being in a perpetual drought. Whatever it is, glad to hear it!

LS, I have no clue what is going on. Last year I think we only caught 3-4 swarms for the entire year. This year, is an entirely different ball game. I lost count, but I think we just caught 6 swarms in the last 7 days and I have never seen or even imagined something like this could occur. I have had to drop all my other priorities and began to build new boxes, bottom boards, top covers, and today, hundreds more frames with foundation.

This week we will build another 20-30 new wood nucs.

When my wife and I moved the monster swarm, we realize it can easily fill 2 empty boxes, but it filled 3-4 boxes once all the frames were in. So that swarm alone can and will be split into 5 hives. That is like a $1,000 bill falling from heaven. I am super excited about enlarging our bee yard, but never would have thought we could grow this rapidly. At this rate, with splits, we will easily grow to over 50 healthy hives.

Your boxes look great, very professional job. Is there a particular lure you like or do they all seem to work? I have the lemongrass oil already and the lures are on their way. Not sure about putting these in a tree, but we'll see how time goes.

Babs,

Thank you for your compliment. I am using four lures all at the same time in each of the lure traps.

1. Swarm Commander [two tiny sprays].
2. Lemon grass oil [3-4 drops placed on two cotton balls, then placed inside a baggie that is left partially open].
3. A third liquid lure that I found on Ebay that says, "Bee lure."
4. A fourth lure from Ebay that appears to have been mixed with wax and arrived in small quarter sized plastic containers.

I spray a little on the inside of the top cover.
I spray a little on the outside of the front of the trap.
I spray a little top of the frames with the old wax.
I rub the lemon grass oil sparingly on the inside of the box.
I place some drops on cotton balls, then place them in a plastic sandwich bag inside the box.

Hope this helps!

I will try to take a pic for you later!

 

[babsbag]

I ordered the one from ebay that is mixed with wax. I also have some old frames to use. I saw the Swarm Commander, maybe I should get some of that too.