The bamboo was not strong enough to hold the bees above the grass
The main cluster went into the box from the top, the rest walked in from below. I closed up the bottom after they were done walking in. Watch these bees march off the grass into their hive:
There is a stand of old trees behind the hotel where this swarm was collected. Many of the trees look like they could host feral bees. The queen had already laid eggs in the small piece of comb drawn where the cluster formed.
Mason Bees and Honey Bees (the Lisa Hive) at backyard host in Renton
9 Overwintered hives hosted in other backyards.
5 bait hives placed with my backyard hosts with hives named: Emily, Emma, Jackie, Lisa, & Lucy.
8 Mason bee blocks & cocoons placed for spring (7 backyard hosts + my own home)
7 Overwintered hives & nucs at my home place (2 are Abigail’s, 4 are nucs too small to place out, 1 is a Top Bar Hive populated in 2011).
4 on waiting list for hives to be populated with 2013 swarms.
1 hive overwintered
First swarm of 2013
3 cut-outs collected
1 trap out collected to support a split w/capped queen cell
1 successful bait hive
12 swarms collected for my apiary
2 swarms collected for Abigail’s birthday present
2 swarms collected for others
3 dwindling hives combined with others in early fall
1 dead-out prior to January 1st, 2013
7 swarm calls were unsuccessful (the bees had left before I got there, or were too high for me to reach)
I was given this article last weekend (August 11 & 12, 2012) at a honeybee workshop hosted by Jacqueline Freeman and Michael Thiele. It fundamentally challenges the perspective of raising and breeding resistant or hygienic bees.
Some swarms don’t lend themselves to being shaken into a box. Here is one that I collected with a more gentle sequence, by letting them decide to move in for themselves.
This swarm was too close to the ground to shake into a box
Here is a fun sequence of photos from a swarm I collected in Bellevue, WA on Friday afternoon, May 11th.
Joel and I inspect a large swarm that has collected in this rhododendron
This was probably around 4 lbs of bees–a nice large swarm for May. I arrived about 45 minutes after Dave called. The swarm was close to the ground, but had a lot of twigs going through it.
Because there was so little space in the bush, I decided to shake them into my cardboard box and quickly transfer them.
A lot of bees went into the air because of the twigs supporting the cluster
The air was boiling with bees. The cloud erupted into a swarm about 30 yards wide. But there was about a dozen that came out immediately and started “fanning”. The march of the airborne bees into the box is always facinating!
This fist sized cluster returned the next day
I usually like to follow a “leave no bee behind” policy, but today was a bit rushed, and I had to leave some scouts in the air. I drove away with a box full of bees about 45 minutes after I arrived. It was a very satisfying collection.
Nathan at the YMCA Triangle-Y Ranch in Oracle, AZ
I had the great pleasure of attending the 2012 Organic Beekeepers Conference this spring from March 2nd-4th. I also stayed over to visit a couple of Dee Lusby’s bee yards on Monday, March 5th.
There was a group of about 70 of us there. Most of the attendees were at the 4-5 year point as beekeepers–just like me. Then there were the presenters who each had become an expert in their fields and had a wealth of positive experiences to share about the pathways to becoming sustainable and treatment free. Continue reading
This little document is so full of good info that I wish I had come up with this one, but it’s not mine. Sam Comfort (http://anarchyapiaries.org) fully supports me sharing it.
I met Sam at the 2012 Organic Beekeeper’s Conference in Oracle, AZ, and was very impressed by his success with simple solutions. What you see from me in 2012 will be heavily influenced by his KISS approach.
Enjoy!
From my discussion w/Dee Lusby on the Organicbeekeepers group:
Workers are bringing in Cedar & Hazelnut pollen
Re: [Organicbeekeepers] Re: ADVISED TO GIVE BEES SUGAR
NIce report Nathan,
What new beekeepers fail to see is that bees to go foundationless need
blooming plants all around for it takes food to make beeswax and in dearth years
and drought years you can shoot self if foot along with your bees by
constant crush and strain methods for getting honey and then letting them
rebuild
own foundationless, for if in dearth this is extremely hard to do…..and
here drawn comb saved by cutting caps off and extracting means a lot for on
many average years to poor years even, getting enoungh honey/pollen in cells
of combs for bees to have enough to eat to survive and they cannot do that if
not enough to build wax…….and yet if working with drawnout combs and
langs this is often just breakeven thru the hard times with rich helping the
poor with a couple frames exchanged…………….but many cannot see the
light for doing this until thru the problem a few times watching close……. Continue reading
