Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => HONEYBEE REMOVAL => Topic started by: SystemShark on May 27, 2008, 01:02:35 pm
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Thats what I call'em anyway. I removed this swarm yesterday, very risky without the right tools. It was 15 feet up and about 8 feet out on a branch. Had I known about the bucket or funnel technique I would have prepared for that. Anyway...
I removed the majority of the bees there and I know I got the queen..lots of great signaling. Early the next morning I had to move the swarm (still in the box) to my mentors place. This morning I find a clump of bees, little bigger than a baseball, attached the my porch doorknob (on the outside obviously). Then I get a call from the people who owned the property telling me there is another clump of bees on a branch close to the one I removed Sunday..about a small football sized.
Anyone have any experience with stragglers? What should I do? I thought after a while they would go away on their own.. I've done 5 swarm removals so far and always leaving 'some' bees around. If i gotta go back to this guy's place I'm asking my mentor if I can borrow his bucket on a pole thing.
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I always try to get the swarm just before sundown. That way you don't have to wait so long, all the scouts and foredgers will be in by O'dark30. Screen and move.
The other small cluster where you got this swarm from could be another swarm.
They come in several sizes. ;) :)doak
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I too struggle w/ stargglers. I may just get a bee vac to help w/ this problem. sometimes you cant get a good shake to get all the bees, or they are in a tight spot, or lots of flying. I seem to get calls back from about half the people. gas is too high to be driving around more than once.
What is this funnel technique? I know of bucket, but I wasn't able to get a huge swarm on a very thin branch away from main trunk that was 25ft up. So, what is this idea?
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Actually beemaster himself was talking about it a bit on ventrilo yesterday. I hadn't heard about it before then, and I was in the middle of a game so I missed all the details. Something about a sheet/tarp that is wider at the top and funnels down into the bucket/swarm box.
===branch=== Swarm
|| \ funn /
|| \ el /
|| [BOX]
Thats what i pictured anyway ^^ :p
I think Im gunna hold off until tonight if I go at all..its not that far away but a 2nd trip isn't something I'm really in the mood for. 2 Swarms in the same place, -same tree- near the same branch, just 1 day later. Dunno... its gotta be straglers..
What happens to the bees that don't make it into the box? I guess I dont really know. I always thought they just went away on their own or returned to the old hive.
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they could return to original hive, but i always assumed they died as a practical matter. No queen to direct them, no food, no reason to live, no shelter etc...