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

[soarwitheagles]

Yes, mustard is already coming in strong here....

I took this picture today...

Ha chew! Ha chew! Allergy season is soon to arrive!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Great thread!

No mustard here yet, but the very first blossoms of manzanita opened this week. (Wednesday) It's been followed by a lot of rain on Friday, so hopefully that put a stop to the blossoms until it quits raining!

 

[soarwitheagles]

Great thread!

No mustard here yet, but the very first blossoms of manzanita opened this week. (Wednesday) It's been followed by a lot of rain on Friday, so hopefully that put a stop to the blossoms until it quits raining!

Happy Chooks, I will be a much happier Soar if only I can trap some swarms this season!

I forgot where you live in NorCal. What is your nearest city?

I hear you on the rain...and I just looked and now they are saying more rain Sunday thru Friday! Wow, what an incredibly year.

Queenies here are beginning to lay lots more eggs...they never really stopped, but they are beginning to crank up the numbers of eggs daily. Hopefully within a few weeks, they will be in full laying modes and we can begin the splitting and queen raising processes. But if the pattern continues of rain nearly every day, then this will push back the explosion of egg laying. We would like to see our queens laying 2000+ eggs per day again...

How many hives do you have there and how are your bees coming along this year?

 

[CLSranch]

Soarwitheagles where are you located? I haven't seen any bee's or blossoms yet. A few trees tried on a false warm up in Dec then back to negative 0 temps a week later. When would they start swarming in a colder climate. Frost danger here is over mid march.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Soarwitheagles where are you located? I haven't seen any bee's or blossoms yet. A few trees tried on a false warm up in Dec then back to negative 0 temps a week later. When would they start swarming in a colder climate. Frost danger here is over mid march.

CLSranch,

Hi and nice to have you post here! We are located in Central Valley near [east of] Sacramento and Stockton, CA. We have wild mustard and many other wild flowers just starting to bloom in some areas, but in other areas it is already coming in like a roaring freight train. Bright yellow flowers in field after field after field. This is not a false warm up here...it is one of the results of an incredibly wet winter with many areas experiencing super saturation.

Negative 0 temps in Oklahoma? Wow, I thought it never got below freezing in Oklahoma. CLSranch, here it rarely goes below freezing...especially if you live near the coast or in the Bay Area. In central valley, we had a number of low 30's nights last year, but below freezing is not the norm for us here. I suppose that is one reason so many people like to winter their bees in California.

Almond blossoms are in desperate need of bees, so we see the semi truck's from all over the nation loaded with thousands of hives arriving every day now.

Unfortunately, professional thieves have also been working in our area, stealing 500+ hives of bees.

http://www.12news.com/news/nation-now/thousands-of-bees-stolen-from-farmer/389095072

It is beginning to occur more and more frequently.

We need stronger Texan-like deterrents: Hang em' High!

Liberal slap on the wrist laws encourage criminals to keep doing their thing...

Swarm season here begins in February. I am not sure about your area. I would recommend you contact your local bee club and inquire there. Local Master beekeepers usually can offer a gold mine of knowledge and understanding. A number of local master bee keepers have befriended me and often come to visit us at our ranch. I have learned more from them in one year of hands on experience than I could have learned in 10 or 20 years on my own.

Last, capturing swarms can have great rewards.

First, by capturing and managing a hive, we are helping America replenish her bee population [our national bee population has taken some horrific hits in the last few years].

Second, capturing a strong and healthy swarm during the nectar and pollen flows can lead to radical and rapid increase in bee numbers within that specific hive. I have consistently seen hives grow from 3-4 frames all the way up to 20+ frames in a matter of weeks when the nectar and pollen flow is strong [our queens often will lay 2000+ eggs per day]. Then that hive can be split 4-5 times, and your hive just went from 1 to 5 or more. Those nucs usually sell here for $125-$150, so one swarm just made you $750. I know people here that can capture over 20 swarms per year. So after splitting, they just made $15,000.

Third, and perhaps my favorite part, if you capture a healthy local feral hive that has been around for any significant length of time, they often will have a natural strength to resist the various local diseases that imported bees might struggle with. I kind of like that idea, especially when some of my friends are paying literally thousands of dollars for scientifically bred bees that I feel are not doing as well! Some of these people are paying $100-$200 for ONE of these specially bred queens...ours are free...

 

[Happy Chooks]

Happy Chooks, I will be a much happier Soar if only I can trap some swarms this season!

I forgot where you live in NorCal. What is your nearest city?

I hear you on the rain...and I just looked and now they are saying more rain Sunday thru Friday! Wow, what an incredibly year.

Queenies here are beginning to lay lots more eggs...they never really stopped, but they are beginning to crank up the numbers of eggs daily. Hopefully within a few weeks, they will be in full laying modes and we can begin the splitting and queen raising processes. But if the pattern continues of rain nearly every day, then this will push back the explosion of egg laying. We would like to see our queens laying 2000+ eggs per day again...

How many hives do you have there and how are your bees coming along this year?

The nearest city to me would be Auburn. I'm roughly 1/2 way up I80 between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. My MIL lives in Newcastle, and the mustard is blooming there.

It's going to be an incredible nectar year I believe! I haven't been able to check my hives yet. I have 3 hives, but there are not many bees (in a quick peek) in the 3rd one. It was the hive getting robbed, so I'm not sure if they will make it. The other 2 are doing fine from outside activity on non-rainy days. They had plenty of honey going into winter, and I gave them all a pollen patty, so they should be good. I'm hoping to get a check in as soon as this rain stops and the manzanita continues to bloom. I may need to reverse boxes to give them more laying/storage space.

 

[soarwitheagles]

The nearest city to me would be Auburn. I'm roughly 1/2 way up I80 between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. My MIL lives in Newcastle, and the mustard is blooming there.

It's going to be an incredible nectar year I believe! I haven't been able to check my hives yet. I have 3 hives, but there are not many bees (in a quick peek) in the 3rd one. It was the hive getting robbed, so I'm not sure if they will make it. The other 2 are doing fine from outside activity on non-rainy days. They had plenty of honey going into winter, and I gave them all a pollen patty, so they should be good. I'm hoping to get a check in as soon as this rain stops and the manzanita continues to bloom. I may need to reverse boxes to give them more laying/storage space.

Happy,

Auburn is a beautiful area. I helped build Auburn's new jail several years ago...2002 I think. Seeing how small the jail cells were, I remember driving below the speed limit for weeks after working there! Sure was a sobering experience. I also remember the wooded areas everywhere and it was beautiful. Nice small town atmosphere.

I too believe we will see a phenomenal flow this year.

I highly recommend you inspect your hives carefully as soon as you can do it with no rain. Examining patterns on the foundation right now can tell a lot and help make educated decisions as to what to do next. I have been looking for egg patterns, pollen patterns, honey patterns, and larvae patterns.

My dad called me this afternoon and informed me that our area should be seeing 7 inches of rain from the storms this week. I hope he is wrong. We need the water, but not that much! Thinking about tarping or covering the hives temporarily, but tomorrow they say 50mph+ winds again. Then I read this evening that we are to have rain straight through until Saturday. Wow! Bees may get a little bit of a later start this year if this level of rain continues...

 

[CLSranch]

I was checking out Brushy Mt BeeFarm and saw a tool box that doubles as a swarm trap. I thought it neat and would probably get one if I was working.

 

[soarwitheagles]

CLS,

That appears to be a nice combo...tool box and swarm trap all in one! I hope you can pick one up soon! Swarm season is upon us!

 

[CLSranch]

It'll be here soon and would loooovvve to have one set now even though I know it's not here (in my location) yet. Still some freezing days left. I'm not working at the moment (not by choice, last job fell through) and have 0 extra to get a swarm or even some boxes if I ordered bees. I would much rather catch a native swarm out of my tree though. More disease, mite, etc... resistant and natural sized with a much higher rate of survival without treatment. Maybe later in the year without honey harvest this year. Currently my best case scenario.

Thanks for all the input. I'm obviously a newbee and am researching here, other sites and watching a lot of Michael Bush's natural beekeeping along with many others. I just like his way best.