Warm Spring Days Bring Swarms: On Capturing a Honeybee Swarm

The Swarm!

April marked my one year anniversary as a beekeeper. It was a rough first year, to be sure. But I did have some success. My hive survived the winter, and that is a huge success of its own. So many friends lost hives this year.

It has been quite the year of learning the ropes but, yesterday something happened that made me feel as though I crossed over to new level of beekeeping. I caught a swarm.

Let me backtrack just a little: Last Thursday I checked my hive for swarm cells. I had hoped to see some; I was waiting to get a few swarm cells before I split out a nucleus colony, or nuc as the experienced folks call it. No such luck. It was looking a little tight in the boxes, but no swarm cells.

On Monday I decided to look again. I'm impatient, something I've mentioned before. In just a few days time the girls had created a handful of swarm cells. Yeah!

I ran up to the garage and grabbed my nuc box and some empty frames. Juggling this extra equipment I hustled back down to the hive and carefully placed everything out on the ground. Don't like my equipment in a bunch...nice orderly rows of boxes, frames, and tools for me!

By this time I needed to take a break. Storm clouds were looming, the humidity was oppressive. It was our first sweltering day of the year...hot, humid, no breeze. I could no longer see for the sweat blurring my vision.

After a short breather, I donned my suit, lit up the smoker and got to work. I'll write about the process of splitting out the nuc another time. I've not yet gotten to the whole reason for this post....the swarm.

As I was finishing up, the Boy pulled up on the lawn tractor, which was making a weird noise. Upon inspection I found the problem and looked up to tell him what tools I needed to make the fix. And there, just a few feet behind him I spied a glorious, humming, thriving swarm ensconced on an Autumn Olive that I had failed to pull out over the winter. (Invasive species, but the bees love it.)

Oh glory! I started screaming and jumping up and down with joy! Had any neighbors been home I'm sure they would have thought I was nuts. Well, I think they do anyway, but I'm sure I looked the part that afternoon.

My first swarm...and in my own yard! Hallelujah! And only 3 feet off the ground. It seemed a gift from the Divine! Placed within reach just for me!

I broke into action, heat be darned. Rubbermaid box and lid, check. Bee brush, check. Quick set up of a new hive, check. Extra bee suit for the Boy, check.  And cameras, check, check, check. Seriously, this had to be documented, which was the Boy's job in all of this.

Evaluating the best placement for catching the swarm.

I approached the swarm, trying to decide the best angle for the catchment box. Knowing I needed to get that queen along with all the bees was a bit intimidating. After studying the swarm for oh, 30 seconds, I grasped the top of the sapling, bent it over the box, and gave it a whack. Splat! a billion bees in a box! I shut the lid and walked the whole 10 feet to the new hive box and dumped them in. Shut the lid; walked away. 

Bending the sapling

The whack!

Recongregating bees. Whack, wait, repeat.

Ten minutes later a few hundred bees had regathered on the sapling, so I repeated the process. This time the flying sisters congregated on the front of the hive box. Yes! Yes! Yes!

After all was done, I contacted my mentor to see if I had done right. So maybe that was a bit backwards but I was Excited! (Yes, with a capital E). He assured me I had and gave me a few cues to look for to determine success. Were the bees gathering in the entrance? Were they going back to the tree? Yes. No. It was looking good.

Later that evening they were still there, buzzing in and out. I put in a frame of honey from another box...minus worker bees. I debated on putting another box on, it was a pretty big swarm. But I didn't want to disturb them too much. I wish I had. 

The next morning they were still there. Whoo hoo! It really was tight in there....every frame covered by bees. So, I promised them I'd have a new box for them that evening.

Sadly, when I returned home from taking the Boy to Latin and picking up new equipment, the colony was gone. But I still felt elated. I had caught the swarm! All on my own! I think the space I gave them was just too small. But I am ready for the next time, please let there be a next time!

Around the Homestead: Planting Time and Spring Maintenance

Garlic coming up

It has been a busy spring. A late starting, cool, but very busy spring.  

Over the past few weeks we have spent our weekends out in the yard. We planted potatoes, onions, and greens; mended fencing; rat-proofed one of the chicken sheds; moved the chicks to said shed; built bee boxes; acquired bees; repaired broken outdoor piping; cleaned up the firewood area; planted trees and shrubs; weeded garden areas, rocked-edged new garden areas; and had a weekend long yard sale. 

During the week, evenings draw to a close a little later each day, as the sun creeps it's way down the western sky, giving us more outdoor time. Each Friday afternoon finds us out in the sunshine, working on some new project, where we continue through the weekend. On Sunday evenings we break a bit early and treat ourselves to pizza or some ice cream from a local shop, and a movie (or Dr. Who) on Netflix.

Spring is always busy on the homestead. There's all the outside work to do, work we've put off since fall. Plus it's time to start planting the garden beds. I have been quite lazy about my planting, and I think the cool weather is to blame. (It can't possibly be that I'm just being lazy!) We have only broken the 70 degree mark a few days so far and our nights are still hovering in the 40s.

My seeds are started, but I've put very little in the ground, to date. This week I'd like to get the tomatoes, leeks, carrots, beans, and flowers in the ground. We'll see. I also have to requeen my hive. (My current queen ended up being a virgin queen, but that's another story.) And I'd like to get out in the canoe soon, too. Yes, something recreational!

The first asparagus spears

The asparagus is coming up and I have a collection of new recipes to try. Pickled asparagus being one. Sounds kind of weird, but I'd like to find a method for preserving asparagus that we'll actually eat. Otherwise Husband ends up taking bucketsful to work to give away.

Summer will soon be here, with it's lazy, hot days. There's just  a little window of time to get those outside chores finished before it gets so hot that the sun chases us back under the cool shade trees or indoors.

The Beeginning of a New Adventure: The Bees Arrived!

Our Bee T.A.R.D.I.S.

Last Wednesday found me busily preparing for some very special additions to our homestead — honey bees! I needed to make sure their new home was prepared: boxes painted and dried, frames assembled and placed in the bottom box, sugar syrup mixed and ready to go, the "bee yard" tidied up and ready. Of course I had all this done days ago, but in my excitement I had to check and recheck. (Or was that my OCD?)

Because of all the excitement (mine), the Boy and I didn't get many of our academic subjects in that day. But learning about bees counts as school, right? The day seemed to take forever. But, finally, it was time to head to bee class where the bees for the participating students, plus those of a few other folks, would arrive from Georgia. 

Here is an abbreviated photo essay of the process of emptying the packages into our hives.

Bee packages in the back of the van

Karen getting her bees from Ron, while a classmate looks on.

OH MY GOD I HAVE BEES!

Girls and Bees

 Ok, so the bees arrived...Now what? Our teacher, Jeremy, very patiently (This man has infinite patience!) demonstrated how to get them from the package box into our hives.

Spray with sugar syrup

Remove top, then can of syrup

Check for the queen...is she alive?

Yes she is!

Remove the cork on the fondant side

Place the queen cage in between two frames, with the escape hole up.

Queen cage placed!

Replace frames

Shake it, Shake it, Shake it! (Shake your groove thing...)

See them waggle! No it wasn't the refrain to "Shake Your Groove Thing"
that made them waggle. It's what they do to signal to others, "Hey Ladies! This is our home!"

Any questions?

Just the experience of watching Jeremy empty those bees into the hive was amazing! There were bees flying everywhere—bumping into faces, arms, fingers. Yet they were so gentle. Apparently this is because they don't have anything to defend yet. Once they get some brood and honey in their frames, I'm sure they'll be more defensive. None of the humans panicked and most of us observed and then worked our own packages without protective gear. A fellow beekeeper brought some home made mead to sample, so maybe that helped bolster confidence!

Some of the folks in the class were nonchalant about handling their bees. For a few, it was a major triumph to do this without panicking; these are stinging insects and to have thousands of them flying around can be quite intimidating. Karen, a few other classmates, and I laughed and joked our way through it all. It was a festive atmosphere...our bee party.

Karen opens her box

Popping the cork

 

The bees enter the T.A.R.D.I.S.

Bee on a classmate. We were all covered in sugar syrup!