Whoopie! Just caught our very first swarm!

[Latestarter]

If the flow is as gargantuan as you are saying, most hives will be bursting at the seams in no time and you can expect a lot more swarms by/before the end of the flow. Go put out your traps and good luck! Here swarms happen right up till late June/early July.

 

[soarwitheagles]

If the flow is as gargantuan as you are saying, most hives will be bursting at the seams in no time and you can expect a lot more swarms by/before the end of the flow. Go put out your traps and good luck! Here swarms happen right up till late June/early July.

LS,

Thank you for the heads up! I am moving full bore ahead on making the swarm traps. I do not wanna sound greedy, but now I am am hoping for somewhere between 10-30 swarms...I hope I am not in imagination land!

 

[Happy Chooks]

You are going to be a busy one!

 

[soarwitheagles]

You are going to be a busy one!

HC,

Actually, I will be a very, very busy bee!

Here's the newest swarm trap. Built it out of old plywood laying around. I also installed 2 frames with old wax foundation, 2 new frames with sprayed on fresh wax, some very old lure bait, some old bee glue, and rubbed some fresh wax and lemon grass all over the inside. Installed the trap last night at midnight. A large number of scout bees are already visiting it and it isn't even noon yet. I am hoping for a healthy swarm soon...

BTW, this new trap is in the same tree...anyone know if that is ok, or should I move it to another tree?

Will keep updating...

 

[Latestarter]

I don't think placing it in the same tree will matter at all... If there's a hive within range that's swarming, and if the scout(s) find the trap and if the swarm decides to visit, you'll have another capture Lot of "ifs" huh?

 

[soarwitheagles]

I don't think placing it in the same tree will matter at all... If there's a hive within range that's swarming, and if the scout(s) find the trap and if the swarm decides to visit, you'll have another capture Lot of "ifs" huh?

Yes, lots of ifs....but that is ok. I suppose life is full of ifs...

Scout bees are all over the new swarm trap within a few hours of placement...so I am hoping to hit the jackpot again...

Funny thing is, I do not gamble...yet, I raising bees and sheep feels like gambling every day!

I may change my online name to Gamblin' Gus or Roll the Dice Roland!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Looks great! Good luck!

 

[1crazybird]

Hi Mini Horses!

Thank you for your congrats!

I have been reading different bee forums this morning and there appears to be a consensus that the bees should be moved either immediately or after waiting 4-5 days. Hmmmmmm...not sure which way to go on this. I think the scout bees could have simply guided the bees to land in the swarm box in the tree on a temporary basis...and if this is true, then they may swarm [move to a new location] again. To be honest with you, I have no clue what I am doing!

I would like to catch lots of swarms. We live surrounded by large Eucalyptus forests and I believe there are lots of ferel bee hives nearby. I would like to catch 5-10 swarms if possible. Hopefully I am not in dream land...

I picked up the lure fluid on Ebay. They sold me super tiny vials [1 ml] and I rubbed only a half of a vial inside the bee box. It sure worked well, because within 2 days I started seeing bees visiting the box, then two days later this swarm landed.

So that is a little info on how this happened!

I do have a wonderful story about how we became involved in keeping bees....

Awhile back my wife and I read about Bee Colony Collapse. It really concerned us. Some states in the USA lost over half their bee colonies in a one year period. We live on a ranch/farm and grow fruit and veggies. I was thinking no bees, no pollination. That seems very serious.

So we prayed a simple prayer, asking the Lord if we should try our hand at beekeeping...

5 days later, a swarm landed 50 ft. away on a tiny tree next to our house. We interpreted this as an answer to our prayer...that the Lord was saying yes, I would like you to try your hand at beekeeping. So we purchased a beehive box and equipment and the rest is history.

Two weeks ago we did a lot of splits because we have hives that are growing so rapidly that they were filling an entire box in days. After adding box upon box, we realized it was time to split. We have queens that never stopped laying eggs in the winter and presently they are laying 2000+ new eggs per day. I suppose you can call us blessed!

So we have rapidly grown from one hive to six hives. Within the next few months, I think we will be up to 10-20 hives.

So now we are busy bees too.

Have a wonderful day!

Wow! My heart leaped in excitement!!! I will be starting my prayer for my hand in bees. I have been thinking about it for years. I have been seeing bees around lately and said something to my DH about the thought just today. I must say I hit your pictures by accident. Lol good luck!

 

[soarwitheagles]

1crazybird,

Glad to read your post! And we hope you too will experience the joy of beekeeping. But please make no mistake about it...it is hard work and it is also time consuming. Finally, it can also be costly...we are already into it more than $1500 last time I counted..

Many people say you cannot make any money from beekeeping. I suppose there can be some truth in that statement. We did not get into beekeeping for the money, but, rather to help the bees rebound here in the USA. But now I have begun to rethink some of this through...

From one hive we are already up to 7 hives and that is only in a few months. If we can reach 20-30 hives by the fall and then sell half of them, we will have nearly doubled our investment and that is excluding any honey harvest. So, if things go well, I suppose it can be profitable.

We have found it to be an exciting adventure and both my wife and I have developed a first time ever love for bees. So that is good news.

We have also found bees to be an amazing creature, full of surprises, full of mystery, and incredibly hard working.

Raising bees in New Jersey would be very different than raising bees in California...especially in winter time. On the other hand, NJ may have some incredibly long pollen/nectar flows in the spring and summer...much greater than here in this part of California. Please be sure to contact your local beekeepers club and pick lots of the master beekeeper's brains before you venture out into beekeeping in your locale!

Hope this helps!

Soar

 

[soarwitheagles]

UPDATE: Applied new swarm lure two days ago to both traps...still no jackpot after 5 days of patiently waiting!

SECOND UPDATE: purchased and applied Lure Comander yesterday after reading lots of reviews...will see if we hit sweet success again!