Just had finished catching the swarm at home and making a screened bottom board when the phone rang for a swarm call. All the way up town to a large night club that had a swarm on an outside wall in the patio area. A big thanks to Randee for the call, she was excited that I came out to collect the swarm and was very interested in the bees. She was not afraid of them in the least, what a joy to do some up close education. Pointing out drones, the queen and the fact that most swarms are gentle, didn't even need my "bug suit" :mrgreen: Small swarm on the side of the brick wall, just about a foot off of the ground [attachment=4:1iqwdr7e]099.JPG[/attachment:1iqwdr7e] When I got there the queen was just sitting out on the patio with a few bees around her, easy enough to catch her [attachment=3:1iqwdr7e]101.JPG[/attachment:1iqwdr7e] Laid a small piece of cardboard on top of the frames to make a bridge for them to march across, at first they took off and then just quit. I put the caged queen on there and even some lemongrass oil but they were not having anything to do with it. Finally had to use some smoke and hive tool to place them in the box. [attachment=2:1iqwdr7e]103.JPG[/attachment:1iqwdr7e] Watching the ladies march across [attachment=1:1iqwdr7e]115.JPG[/attachment:1iqwdr7e] Just about all in [attachment=0:1iqwdr7e]139.JPG[/attachment:1iqwdr7e] Decided to leave them there and come back after dark. Just had gotten home and got another swarm call, drove all the out to find they had left a little earlier, oh well two easy swarms in one day.......I love it!!
One thing i found handy( well an old beekeeper showed me) in this type of swarm (on the wall or flat surface) is to make a scoop out of a plastic gal, bleach jug or milk jug and just scoop them up and dump the in the hive. I keep one in my truck. Good job G3. Jack
Two swarms and pictures of both, what a day! I have seen a couple of videos where those queen clips are used, are they easy to pick the queen up with? I have never been fortunate (or skilled) enough to have spotted a queen when collecting a swarm but it looks like it might be a handy thing to have kicking around. Congratulations on the catch(s), still a few weeks away for the season up here.
Those clips are easy to work, the spring pressure is very very light. I think that one is from Walter Kelley and the ears where you squeeze it open stick out quite a bit. Had one from Brushy Mountain that I liked better, the ears were closer together and made it easier to fit in between frames.
Ah, bees picked a great time then. I wonder where all these downtown swarms are coming from... Seems like I've gotten nearly all my swarm calls from three specific areas... and I know there's a beekeeper near one them... so I'm betting that's whose bees I'm really getting in that area...
