got a swarm call this morning. it was hanging from a limb about 25' up. my 1st reaction was this swarm is HUGE!! but as I got closer I could see that while this was a decent sized swarm they had built several layers of comb complete with brood & honey. if they had stayed there they definitely would not have survived the winter. it's getting kinda' late for swarms around here but this was my 3rd call in 4 days. if things go well I could build up to 12 hives this year.
Good going. Did you get the comb and put it in the hive. Good luck with you bees
Joe
we had a 24' ladder & it was 18" shy of being long enough. luckily there was an almost flat roofed shed there so we put the ladder on the roof. they're in a hive now.
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k195/rober49/swarm3.jpg) (http://s88.photobucket.com/user/rober49/media/swarm3.jpg.html)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k195/rober49/swarm2.jpg) (http://s88.photobucket.com/user/rober49/media/swarm2.jpg.html)
Hey rober,
I've collected two colonies like that. I've simply refered to them as "open air". I guessed that they were a swarm that couldn't find any suitable hollow so they just built on the limb.
Ray