Got a call from a car dealership in Orlando this am. I had to be down that way to pick up some windows for a job we're doing in Leesburg anyway so I stopped and picked 'em up on my way.
(http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab277/hardwood01/swarm003.jpg)
Scott
Nice way to save fuel. 2 for 1.
Do you get many swarm calls this time of year??
Allen, I told the owner of the (very uppity bmw/mercedes/porche) dealership that there must be a colony of bees pretty close. As we were leaving I got a call from a building owner just a block away that has a colony in the block wall of a huge industrial building...about 40 feet up in a block wall. I'm pricing it for him tomorrow :-D
Scott
Annette, this is the land of eternal summer (heat). I'll get swarm calls until the brood break in Dec/Jan and then they pick up again in March.
Scott
You da man. Let us know if that hive is inside the hollows of the blocks. Do you have AHB genetics in your area yet?
Never ending beekeeping!! I hate to say it, but I really look forward to winter when I can take a break from beekeeping. I feel like I am putting the girls to bed when I get them ready for winter. I have worked really hard all season to take care of them nicely and I feel really good when things are looking good in the Fall and I say goodnight to them.
They're here supposedly...I've run across dry swarms and pissy colonies, but nothing that I would consider africanized.
Scott
Annette, I almost envy the rest of the country. We may have active bees all year (or close to it), but we don't have really strong honey flows like elsewhere. The girls are always bringing in something and we do have two kinda major flows...orange blossom and Brazilian pepper (which should come in starting next month) but it's more like a trickle compared to some places. A yearly average honey crop here is around 70-80lbs per hive. What the girls bring in they consume.
Scott
That is amazing as I thought they would be bringing in nectar most of the year.
So what are you envious of?? The amount of honey some others get?? I can tell you that I have my bees in the worst location and hardly get any honey for myself. In fact, they usually do not even make enough for themselves. Imagine how I feel when I read about how much honey others are getting.
Wow, good size swarm, catch the queen?
Nice Pic and Nice Pick :-D
No video? Come on man I wanted to see you holding that lil Mai Tai umbrella! :-D
...JP
I think Scott is holding out untill schawee post his :-P :-D
Hey now...I already posted my initiation and I'm not holding my breath for schawee (anymore anyway... :-D). JP, we had the video camera with us but I wasn't even there for 10 mins and setting it up didn't seem worth it as I was late to get to the job 90mins away. I'll make sure to film some more soon.
I've been doing a lot of VERY small cut outs for two different utilities...mostly in water meter boxes. I don't think the bees stay in the boxes more than a week or so and sometimes there's only 2-3 fist sized combs...doesn't make for very entertaining video.
Scott
If you film them you can do a montage of them all or have a few on one video, a few on another.
We'll let you know what we find interesting or not, you just get that lil Mai Tai umbrella out and go to work man! :-D
...JP