I received a swarm alert Wednesday around noon. He said it was 7' off the ground, 10" in diameter. Yea, I've heard that before. Told him I would be there after I get off work. After work, went home loaded up truck with a swarm bucket and a nuc and grabbed a 4' stick figuring it was higher than 7'. I called and he said it was still there. My wife, Judy, went with me. Yea! Ran into 5:00 traffic and it took a few extra turns to find the "the dumpster that the hive was across the road from". My wife spotted it first and I moved the truck next to the hive. I started getting the bucket ready. Turned out the bottom of the hive was at 7' the top was at 10' and it was at least 10" in diameter. As I was taping the stick to the pole, I could hear the swarm taking off. In 15 seconds the whole hive was in the air. I walked into the middle of the swarm and walked with them as they flew across a large open field. If you haven't seen it, they travel slow because the scouts fly faster and over the swarm and then drop down and fly under it going the other way to get behind the swarm and then fly over to continue guiding the swarm. It was almost a standard walking pace. When you are looking at the bees, it looks pretty chaotic because you see bees flying at you as well as in the direction of the flight. They crossed a 6 lane highway during rush hour. Luckily for me traffic was stopped. When they got to the other side, they started thinning out and then I saw that they were climbing at a 80 degree angle to climb over the trees ahead of them and followed along the side of a car dealership. It would have been real nice to be able to follow them to their first resting place. I could not go any further due to the dealership fence. I went back to the truck where I had left my poor wife standing there watch her crazy husband walking in the middle of a swarm. We drove thought the dealership looking for and asking attendants if they had seen the swarm, and received a few strange reactions, but no saw it. Would have been nice to catch a swarm that big but you don’t always get to catch the golden ring. All and all it was a fun adventure.
Topic: Swarm Alert 7' off the ground, 10" in diameter (Read 2493 times)