I caught a swarm from an unknown ladies house.....I don't know any beekeepers with in a mile of where she lives...... and I was wanting to find out what kinda bees I had be it Itialian or Russians or Minnesota hygienic.... is their a way to tell?
Is there a web site that would have pictures of the different types of bees for identification?
To me, the important part is you got bees from your region that more than likely have survived your winter. The race of the bee doesn't matter if they don't survive or are not acclimatized to your area.
Quote from: Highlandsfreedom on May 08, 2009, 12:38:53 PM
I caught a swarm from an unknown ladies house.....I don't know any beekeepers with in a mile of where she lives...... and I was wanting to find out what kinda bees I had be it Itialian or Russians or Minnesota hygienic.... is their a way to tell?
You forgot to include in your list:
Mutts, which are a very good possibility !
Do a Google search for ID info.
Bee-Bop
Bee-Bop
They could be anything, if you can post a picture of them someone might be able to help identify them.
You never know if there is someone keeping bees near her that you don't know about.
I just found out this week that there is a gentleman down the end of my street keeping bees and I never knew it.
Thats true ill bet it came from a keeper. The swarm was a nice 1 foot on top and about 2 feet long!! Ill try and post pics here im still learning how to navagate here. I like the term mutts thats what all our animals are so why not the girls as well.....Yes the bees are awesome and free , minus the jar of honey the lady requested. Thats really the bottom line here. lol
Glad to hear you got a swarm, now lets hear the story!!
G3
I think its a great story........ I was teaching a coop of urban homesteaders on how to install a nuc. One of the lady's there neighbor had received a swarm in her back yard not 10 min. before the class started and tried to call several exterminators. Luckily it was a sunday and she couldn't get a hold of anybody before she called her friend who was at my house. I have never caught a swarm before much less installed a nuc so this was virgin territory for me in all aspects. The lady on the phone was too scared to let her dogs out side to go to the bathroom fearing the bees and asked that I hurry so we had a caravan over to her house and we got the catch on video but its sideways on the screen through half of it.....oh well. But it went great!! It was a PERFECT first swarm, eye level and in the open just a dump in the nuc box and waited to see if another ball started to form and it did so I figured that's where the queen was and snipped off the branch and put the whole thing into the nuc and in about 30 min or so only a handfull of bees remained out side the box and I closed up the box and took them home in the back of my 82 Chevy citation hatchback, with about 15 or so of the girls buzzing around the back window!! I took them home and poured them into their new home and now exactly one week later they are building comb and I found the queen roaming around the frames!!!!! :-D I still cant tell if the queen is laying eggs but they are on their 2nd gallon of sugar water the first batch was 2 cups sugar to 1 cup water and the 2nd batch was 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water. It was such a wonderfull experience I hope to get another swarm or a removal.... I would like to fill up my top bar hive!!!!!
Good job on your first swarm, glad things went well for you. Sounds like you are hooked now.
Were you by yourself when you caught this swarm (no other beek with you) and if so what a real confidence builder.
G3
Yeah!! I was doing a coop where I was the only person with bees, this was my first bees too, the other half of my story is I was buying a nuc from Kansas and I dint know what happened but the deal fell through so I got my money back and was ready to buy package bees elsewhere!! :-x
The guy who was brokering the bees for us LOANED me his babies in a nuc marked queen and all!! :-D That way I could go forward with the coop which had to be postponed one week anyways. So if it hadn't been for his loaners I would not have been given the chance to capture my FREE bees. What a guy right. And yes nooooo body was there I actually tried to call a beek for some advice but could not get ahold of anybody!! So here I was first time in a strangers house everybody looking at me like im a hero and im shaking in my boots!!! But after it was all said and done 45min. later I was on my way home with a smile on my face and my nuc in car. I only got stung because the girl got stuck in my hair and I couldn't get her out but no swelling at all. But that was a freak sting I think. I thank everybody who posted all their you tube videos of catching swarms for my knowledge.