Crazy day in the apiary today

[netman]

My bee hives are very strong and I’ve had two hives swarm in two days. Today’s swarm was as big as a five gallon bucket. They were in the grapevines to make matters worse. I think I got the queen so hopefully I recaptured my own bees.
I got to scoop them up by the arm load.

 

[OldGrayJB]

Great pictures. Typically when they swarm, they have produced another queen. The original queen leaves with half the bees and the new queen stays in the hive with the rest.
Did you put them all back in the same hives they left?

 

[Billy Goat]

Seems late for swarms. I was seeing them a month ago. Don't know much about it tho. I reckon your just behind us in spring time.



March 24, they were just starting to swarm. I'm no bee keeper, I just build fences around hives.

 

[Elk97]

If they stayed in the box you gave them you got the queen. Better check the original hive in a week or two to make sure the new queen is out and laying eggs and put an entrance reducer on both colonies so they don't get robbed out while the population is down. Good score on getting your own swarm.

 

[netman]

Great pictures. Typically when they swarm, they have produced another queen. The original queen leaves with half the bees and the new queen stays in the hive with the rest.
Did you put them all back in the same hives they left?

I put the swarm in a new brood box. I have been slacking on hive inspections. I noticed a couple of queen cells in the makings. I wanted to let them seal the cell off so I could try cutting the cell loose and starting another hive.
I got busy on my mule barn and let the bees swarm. I was working on my barn when I could hear a giant roar. Went to see a bee tornado swirling around the hives. I was going uh-oh

 

[netman]

Goat it’s about the end of swarm season for us. I had done some swarm defense a few weeks ago but they swarmed anyway. Last year I stayed on defense and had zero swarms. Too many projects going on at once.

Elk they stayed in the new brood box. I went ahead and put a feeder on top to encourage them to live it up on me.
I’m headed to Montana right now so we’ll see what the results are when I get back.

 

[slatebuilder]

We have apple trees. The bees have been pretty busy through the month of May. We had 2 swarms over the weekend. Here’s a shot of one before it was recaptured.

 

[netman]

Gotta love it when they are close to the ground!

 

[OldGrayJB]

This pic was 2 years ago. I had waited too long to check on mine. I cut away a cell and this virgin queen crawled out. They're fascinating creatures.

 

[beachbunny]

wow, a world i really know nothing about.
thanks for all your posts

 

[netman]

Old gray you was there at the right time. I’m studying to start making queens. My eyesight is not letting me see the eggs. So I started talking with people who grab the queen cell once sealed and moving the QC along with a couple of frames of bees to another hive or nuc.
That swarm I caught in the above pictures is going to get re queened when I get home. The old hag will get laid to rest

 

[Catahoula]

Fascinating! Great pictures..

 

[Elk97]

Most swarms aren't easy. The ladder I'm on is on the roof of a building at a marina.

 

[ScottinPA]

Nice pix. Trying to get started in beekeeping this year. Have my area set up, fence up, and hives ready to go (I think) just waiting on my overwintered nuc. Bees are delayed due to weird weather we've been having. Probably should've just ordered a package of bees.

I have one nuc coming but currently have two complete hives ready. Area is set up for potentially 6 hives. Found a deal where I can pick up some more hives cheap. I may do that in case I need to make a split or find a swarm. How far away from original hive should the new split be located?

 

[OldGrayJB]

Nice pix. Trying to get started in beekeeping this year. Have my area set up, fence up, and hives ready to go (I think) just waiting on my overwintered nuc. Bees are delayed due to weird weather we've been having. Probably should've just ordered a package of bees.

I have one nuc coming but currently have two complete hives ready. Area is set up for potentially 6 hives. Found a deal where I can pick up some more hives cheap. I may do that in case I need to make a split or find a swarm. How far away from original hive should the new split be located?

Some of the bees will go back to the original hive regardless of where you put it. Some of them will stay. You can put it right beside the original hive.

If you're making a split. Just make sure you leave your new queen in her cage for a few days so the bees can get used to her. I usually wait 4-7 days before releasing the queen. Otherwise they'll kill her.

 

[Elk97]

I always used the rule of less than a foot or more than a mile for moving colonies. Spits will lose all the mature foraging bees if you just move it a little ways.