Swarm 6-7-2011

[Shawn]

Here is another swarm that shoed up a couple hours ago. This one landed in a small tree close to my two hives that have not yet been moved out to teh fields. I called a guy that is wanting to start bees so he is suppose to come get them tonight, maybe tomorrow.

[AllenF]

How many swarm traps do you have out around there? 

[Shawn]

No swarm traps out at all. Kind of freaky that they come to one area but sure does save me on fuel cost 

[Danger Brown]

Hi all,
I'm the new guy that Shawn called to take the swarm. I built a top bar hive and Shawn did a great job of catching the swarm and working the bees. I'm proud that I helped move the hive around (with bees on it) even though I don't have a suit yet.

THANKS AGAIN SHAWN!!! I still can't sleep because I'm on "bee high".

I got them home, and situated the hive on cinder blocks with a syrup feeder several feet from the hive. Some nice big rocks on top to keep them from blowing over in our high winds. I think they're going to like their new home. We're super-happy to have them here.

[Shawn]

Danger, I changed my mind about the wood. If you come get it you can have it. I was watching some videos on top bar hives last night and saw that a guy was using the cedar fencing to build his hives. When I get the fence down Ill let you have the pickets for free and what ever post I dont use, 4x4x8 you can have them also. Its great to see more people in the area getting into bee keeping.

Keep building the hives and Ill call you for the next swarm, never know when it might be  . So everyone knows Danger called me I believe on Friday and said he was going to start building hives and needed a swarm. I told him to build away because I never know when Ill get the call. Well about 15 minutes after I hung up with him I got a call of a swarm in a tree. I called Danger right back and he didnt have a hive built yet  . Although it was a flase alarm, hive inside a tree, it shows you never know when the call will come. As you can see in my other post I got two more swarms in the week  

Danger I truly believe this will be a great hobby and something you can pass on to your kids. Ive only been doing this for I think 5 years and have enjoyed all 5, especially the harvest and not so much of the stings  

OH YEAH! Danger can video us doing the shakes or cut outs  

[hilreal]

Danger, welcome to the club.  Just a note though I would be careful with an open feeder this time of year.  You could be feeding a lot of bees, most of which are not yours    I would try to figure out a way to feed it internally.

[Danger Brown]

Thanks Shawn, again! .....and again! It was our conversation at the school a couple months ago that motivated me to take action after years of just being interested. Yep, my wife bought a pretty good camera (Canon t2i) last year and it shoots beautiful HD video. Though editing and uploading takes hours. I messed up the angle for Shawn's catch and it was getting dark so I don't think this last catch is worth uploading. Can't really see what was going on.

Update on this swarm:
About 5:30pm 06/08/2011 I noticed the swarm had moved to the outside of the hive. I'm pretty confident that they needed more ventilation and a larger entrance. 3 holes .5 inch in diameter on one end weren't enough.

hireal, thanks very much. I understand and agree that the open feeder isn't the way to go. I would have put it inside the hive, but I have no suit yet. (It's on order.)

Plan A: If I had a suit, what I would have done tonight is drill new entrance and ventilation holes on the sides, remove the center topboards of the hive, put the feeder inside, scoop the swarm into it with a dustpan, and then block the entrance they have been using with a follower board.

Plan B: Seeing as I have no suit and not enough courage to try plan A without it, I went to work in my shop after dinner and built 3 (ugly) swarm lure boxes. After putting 2 drops of lemongrass essential oil in each, I placed them strategically around the swarm hoping they will move into one of them tomorrow. They are 50ft East, 50ft South, and 20ft North. The closest one is about 6 feet up in a russian olive tree. The one to the South has the feeder on top and a new water source nearby.

[Danger Brown]

hireal, regarding the open feeder, I was surprised that they never touched it. No other bugs seemed to find it either. Maybe I made it too thick. I didn't measure the sugar, but added enough sugar that one quart of water turned into nearly 2 quarts of syrup.

It was crystalizing where it was exposed to the air all day.

I rinsed the solid sugars away and moved it from the ground 10 feet from the hive to the top near the entrance of my southern lure box.

At dinner tonight my 4 year old daughter gave the blessing and I followed with a prayer that this swarm finds a place to be happy and thrive through many winters even if they choose to leave our property. My fingers are crossed now.....

[Danger Brown]

"Plan B" worked!
I stayed up until after midnight working to make the swarm trap boxes and today they scouted out and showed lots of interest in two of them. At about noon, they flew 50 feet and moved into one of them. It's just a box though and has no frames or top bars. I think I'll let them settle in for about a week and then do a little cut-out and move them into a proper hive.