Well looks like I wasn't attentive enough with one hive and it swarmed yesterday afternoon. First time I actually have seen it happen. Way cool to me, the wife was scared beyond belief. But they moved 20 feet up high in a Leyland Cypress where I can see them and not touch them. About a 3 pound swarm. I put out a bait hive, don't expect results, so I assume I have produced a swarm that will be wild. This hive is from a feral swarm originally.
I guess that is okay, wish I had paid a bit more attention to that hive tho.
I don't think it's such a horrible thing. Your Hi Vis refresh with a new queen and the wild population hopefully is refreshed with a new swarm. Ideally if you want to keep your husband or split them reproduce honey you wouldn't want them to swarm, but it is their natural inclination and it is how they survive.
Hives. and hives. :wink:
speech to text doesn't work as well when you have a cold!
If you want to try to get them, tie a heavy weight to a rope or cord. Loft it up over the branch, as close as you can ( if you can). Raise a frame of open brood and they may move onto it. Lower the frame down when they they have moved over ( in mass).
It may not work - for many reasons, but if you aren't doing any thing else... :wink:
@ Colobee - 20' up in a leyland cypress is out of reach. It's pretty much more of a broom than a branch.
Maggies.........LOL yup. Don't feel bad about any of it, glad to improve the wild population actually,
If they are still there - you could try strapping a nuc box containing a frame of open brood to the end of a ladder and attempt to position it as close to the cluster as possible. It usually works.
The 'improving the wild population' stuff is something of a myth - if they find a suitable (for them) cavity, it might become a nuisance for one of your neighbours. And if they can't find a suitable cavity, then they face a very uncertain future.
Best to capture it if you can - you can always give it away if you don't need it.
LJ
LOL. A lot of us have more space than you folks do over there. We can supplement the wild population without it being a bother. + the hives that do survive in the wild are usually superior to those we tend. I'll take a swarm out of a bee tree any day over a package!
Regardless, 20 feet up is 20 feet up........
It is more than just 20 feet up in the top of a Leyland Cypress. For those that don't know, the dang tree is as wide at the bottom as tall....a conifer. Then this tree is on a 40 degree slope, with mole infested ground under. I do have a bait hive out. I expect them to go over to the wooded area to the West, lots of snags over there and well sheltered. They may have already left, was not able to tell for sure late yesterday in the shadow with the sun in my face.
20 feet ain't so high. Give the wife an extension ladder and send her up. :cool:
Quote from: JackM on April 20, 2015, 08:53:06 AM
It is more than just 20 feet up in the top of a Leyland Cypress. For those that don't know, the dang tree is as wide at the bottom as tall....a conifer. Then this tree is on a 40 degree slope, with mole infested ground under.
Yeah - I have a few hundred of those - albeit on flat ground. We have a lot of flat ground around here - in fact, 90% of the county is dead flat - hence we use Leyand Cypress for windbreak hedging. When I suggested leaning a ladder against the Leylandii, I didn't mean for you to climb it - just use the ladder as a pole on which to mount a nuc box. If you can get the nuc box within 6 feet or so of the swarm it should do the trick.
LJ
Chances are good they will move into your bait hive if it is big enough and contains a frame of old comb, LGO, or QMP.