i WATCHED MY HIVE SWARM, START TO FINISH

[newbee101]

I was inspecting my nucs today and noticed my strong hive seemed to have a robbing situation going on. I reduced the entrance a little, but the numbers started to grow. I sat in the yard and watched. After about 10 minutes there were thousands of bees in the air. It looked like it was raining bees! Bees on the plants, bees on the ground and bees on me. Another 10 minutes and all was quiet. The swarm is about 30 ft up a maple tree in my neighbors yard. About 10 ft back from my row of hives. All I could do was watch in awe. I was expecting a swarm to be like in the cartoons, a big ball of bees flying around in tight formation.  I am going to try a lure and a nuc tommmorow. Of course I have pictures for those who like that sort of thing. For those who have High speed, I have a 1 minute QUICKTIME video
http://www.acmepainting.com/swarm1.jpg
http://www.acmepainting.com/swarm2.jpg
http://www.acmepainting.com/swarm3.jpg
http://www.acmepainting.com/swarm4.jpg
http://www.acmepainting.com/swarm5.jpg
http://www.acmepainting.com/swarm6.jpg
http://www.acmepainting.com/swarm7.jpg
http://www.acmepainting.com/swarm8.jpg
http://www.acmepainting.com/movie.htm

[Brian D. Bray]

Awe inspiring isn't it.  I started by hiving a swarm and have been hooked for a life time.  Good luck on catching your swarm.

[beemaster]

GREAT that you got the movie - it REALLY tells the story nicely - nothing beats the moment where the bees are flying against the blue sky in the background - awesome.

It's funny, I just mentioned the other day in a post that if you EVER get a chance to experience a swarm - just get inside of it and stand still and enjoy a magical moment. I have been so lucky many times and each is as thrilling and awe-struck as the previous one.

GREAT GREAT JOB and thanks for being on-top of catching this video - not to many people have the skill to orchestrate this project in such a short time!!!! Bravo!

[manowar422]

As always, you take very good pictures newbee and thanks for
sharing them. The viewing of pictures is what sets our
community apart from the others.

I would mention however that IMHO the way it was done on
this post (with links instead of the pictures themselves) is the way
to go when posting pictures. Folks with dialup connections don't have
to wait for pages to load if they (pictures) are all linked,
instead of posted on the page.

I have 4MB download speeds here, but I'm thinking of others with
slower connections when it comes to picture files.

[beemaster]

Mano:

I agree about the unique aspect of this forum and I'll add the simplicity of the PHPBB software too - on other forums, I get lost when posting and replying because of the wording of the link buttons - might just be me, but I find this software a bit more user friendly in that respect.

But I do have the PHOTOS forum here - I hate to FORCE people to use it, matter of fact a flaw in the PHPBB software here makes it tough to restrict posting actual size images and frankly it is a lot easier to post an image here than a thumbnail which most people don't have a clue how to do,

So it is more of an honor system to ask people to post just links in all the forums EXCEPT the photos forum - I too have a fast connection but I remember well (back in the golden days before Al Gore invented the Internet  :roll:  ) when CompuServe and Prodigy offered 2400 baud as a standard and a whopping $9.95 an HOUR for 9600 baud (which was still 6 TIMES SLOWER) than today's dial-up connections. So I've been there and done that and I always try to make things friendly to everyone who has any kind of connection here.

The only exception to the rule (and I still think it important to our forum) is AVATARS which I like and I know most everyone else does too! Honestly, I look forward to NEW AVATARS which I haven't seen before when a member joins - I think it is one of the perks of having new people join us!

I often go to other forums (all different topics around the Internet JUST LOOKING FOR AVATARS) it is an interesting treasure hunt. I often save them on my computer but then forget to upload them to the avatar gallery - I have a few dozen great ones now that can be uploaded. I want to get rid of the crappier mini-avatars in my galleries, no one uses those at all and I could use the room for the new awesome looking ones I've been collecting.

_______________________

Personal Note: I was playing cards off and on Saturday night from 9pm until about 12am, I'm down about $3K play money (of course) but I suspect to be back on tonight after the Sopranos - if you get a chance, look for me :) Hope to see you later!!!

Anyone else interested - we play FREE POKER (7 card stud or holdem') at www.ultimatebet.com - easy to install software, nice looking rooms with chat feature and easy to use betting buttons.