It has cooled down around here for a few days. Does this stop the swarming? The thistle is in bloom now also. Am wondering how much longer I could leave by bait hives out with the expectation of catching swarms and still haveing them build up for winter? Any ideas for south east michigan?
I've heard the adage,
A swarm in May is worth a bale of hay,
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon,
A swarm in July isn't worth a fly.
Somehow in our neck of the woods I'd imagine even late June wouldn't be ideal for us.
if i take late swarms, i keep them crammed down unless they are really big. i might add a shallow or medium for them to store honey if the swarm is big enough. the big ones do come this late for us, but them come out of the pollination hives. our heavy flow is right now, so they will have a chance to put away stores. in another couple of weeks, they won't have so much to bring in will have to be fed. no honey will come from swarms this late around here.
You can probably take them down now. There may be an occasional swarm, and they can still build up to wintering size, but probably not enough to be worth the extra weathering the bait hives will take.
-r