Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Tidy little swarm  (Read 2376 times)

Offline tjc1

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 752
  • Gender: Male
Tidy little swarm
« on: July 03, 2013, 12:23:20 am »
Easy to catch, a foot off the ground - my first. I felt afterwards that I could have done it in shorts and a teeshirt, without gloves - they were completely docile!




Offline Joe D

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2246
  • Gender: Male
Re: Tidy little swarm
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2013, 12:45:12 am »
And sometimes you can.  I have had some swarms 15 to 20 ft up a tree that didn't all get in the super or box on first try.  After messing with them for a little they may get upset.  Good going on your first.




Joe

Offline BlueBee

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4587
  • Gender: Male
Re: Tidy little swarm
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2013, 02:50:01 am »
Don't believe the old wives tale that swarms don't sting.  :-D

I caught a couple of swarms the other day.  One was about the size of a golf ball!  I dumped them into a nuc with a couple frames of brood and some nurse bees.  It will be interesting to see if they make it as a colony. 

Offline capt44

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 740
  • Gender: Male
  • If it don't work I'll always think it should have
    • RV BEES
Re: Tidy little swarm
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2013, 12:47:11 am »
Last year I caught a small swarm, about the size of a baseball.
I put them in a 5 frame nuc with some brood and eggs.
In late September I put them in a 8 frame hive.
I babied those gals and this spring had a very strong colony of bees.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

Offline JPinMO

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 196
  • Gender: Female
Re: Tidy little swarm
« Reply #4 on: July 04, 2013, 01:55:43 am »
tjc1, did you brush them or use a bee vac? Or use the JP method -- stick your hand in there and scoop them into a box?
"Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters
cannot be trusted in large ones either."  Albert Einstein

Offline Tightwad

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 61
  • Gender: Male
Re: Tidy little swarm
« Reply #5 on: July 04, 2013, 08:58:10 am »
I'm a new bee and i can't what to get my First   swarm. I just  ordered new 8 frame  box's to have on Han I have called members in my bee club twice to remove swarms from two of my Co stores. I'm looking forward to getting my First  one. 

Offline tjc1

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 752
  • Gender: Male
Re: Tidy little swarm
« Reply #6 on: July 04, 2013, 07:18:14 pm »
tjc1, did you brush them or use a bee vac? Or use the JP method -- stick your hand in there and scoop them into a box?

I just gently scooped off clumps with the hive tool and my (gloved) hand - I could feel the heat thru the glove! Then I just shook them off into the box - no flying, no agitation. Was a bit nervous about how that would go, being my first swarm, but it was as easy as pie (lucky me).