aaaAAAAAARRRRRHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SWARMING!!!!!!

Started by Intheswamp, April 02, 2012, 03:39:24 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Print
Go Down Pages1 2 All
User actions

Intheswamp

April 02, 2012, 03:39:24 PM Last Edit: April 02, 2012, 08:00:23 PM by Intheswamp
Newbee.

Was in hives yesterday...things looked "ok" to these newbee eyes....large colony had room...still drawing comb in second super/brood box.  Did not go into smallest hive....virgin queen should have been emerging this weekend, possibly on maiden flight,....(newbee) thought it would be good to leave it alone and not disturb.

Walked out this morning to a loud buzzing filling the air.  Looked at saw a giant swarm about 25' in front of the big hive.  Was standing there amazed with my jaw dragging the ground thinking out cool that was BUT...THOSE WERE MY BEES GETTING READY TO HIGHTAIL IT OUT HERE!!!!!!

The bees start to settle down onto what I see is already a wad of bees in the briars.  I start to figure in my little pea-brain what this newbee's gonna do.

It's about that time I hear something to my right.....IT'S THE LITTLE HIVE AND A SWARM IS LEAVING THE HIVE!!!!!   <AAARRRHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!>

It's an AMAZING SIGHT, BUT.....they're still my bees.  :(

So for the last two hours I've been trying to pick bees out of the briars.  I'm letting them decide whether to go in, stay in, come out or whatever right now....  A quick picture or two and I'm back out there.  The ones at the white hive have already exited one time...a little ball of bees in front that I couldn't dig out of the briars, thatch, grass must have had the queen....I left them going back in (it looked like)..this swarm came from the smallest hive..  The small hive (camo) I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure they came from the large hive....they've started gather back on the front of the camo trap...???

Here's some pics and then back out there....  Ed

btw, you may get a deja'vu feeling reading this thread.  :-D







www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

CVBees

#1
April 02, 2012, 03:51:49 PM
Sending good luck wishes, and thanks for the great pics.

:catchchick:
Bees are the key to life as we know it.

carlfaba10t

#2
April 02, 2012, 04:04:39 PM
Hi good pics; I am thinking the same thing is apt to happen to my bees also.I am newbee to but i will recommend that you get your hives up off the ground,on stands if you can.
Carl-I have done so much with so little for so long i can now do something with nothing!

danno

#3
April 02, 2012, 04:39:36 PM
one very common newbee mistake is not having any extra equipment lying around.  Colonies can and will swarm and sooner or later someone will call telling you they have a basketball size swarm hanging in there yard.  Free bee's!!!    Thats not the time to call around looking for equipment.

Intheswamp

#4
April 02, 2012, 05:31:48 PM
Thanks for the good wishes.

The white hive is actually an empty hive that I've had sitting on "hive row"...I had three mediums with sc foundation with a bottom and top on it.  I used one of the mediums recently to add to the large hive. I've got it sitting there on the ground for the bees to crawl into, that's not it's permanent home...they landed in the briars/grass.   Both swarms landed on the ground so both boxes are on the ground.

The camo box was a swarm trap I had on hand...medium frames in an 8-frame deep.  I ran over to the shop and brought back two more mediums with ssb and a migratory cover....I don't know whether to go ahead and try to transfer the bees in the camo box into the medium boxes I brought or wait and see if they will all go into the camo box tonight.  Seems like more bees on the outside of the camo box than there were early....the small 3"x .5" opening is at the lower right corner looking at it.

Here's what both look like as of a couple of minutes ago...comments/advice are welcomed!!!!  Ed





www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Intheswamp

#5
April 02, 2012, 05:38:09 PM
Quote from: carlfaba10t on April 02, 2012, 04:04:39 PM
Hi good pics; I am thinking the same thing is apt to happen to my bees also.I am newbee to but i will recommend that you get your hives up off the ground,on stands if you can.
carlfaba10t, thanks for the concern on the hives sitting on the ground....they're just there till the bees decide to stay or leave.  Here's a picture of my stands.  :)   Ed
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Intheswamp

#6
April 02, 2012, 06:55:40 PM
Back again.  I guess it's just up to the bees now. 

I feel good about the camo swarm.  I took the two mediums and ssb that I picked up at the shop and moved the medium frames from camo'd 8-frame box into one of them.  I think the bees were bearding so heavily on the front because there were a lot of bees on the surfaces inside the deep.  I then took the second medium box and put some frames with sc starter strips in them, too.  After I shook the bees out of the camo box into the mediums and brushed the other ones out that didn't let go I put the migratory top on.  There were still several bees outside of the box but they started heading to the Ponderosa.  Last I checked it looked like all the bees had gone inside except for the token few stragglers.

The other swarm is being kind of a horses butt.  One thing is for sure...this episode has got me leaning more towards migratory covers!!!  I kept looking at the bees bearding around the lower edge of the outer cover.  I finally decided to take the cover off and see what was going on.  Yelp...between the inner cover and top cover was packed with bees!!!  Oh....boy.   Oh, and the top cover was covered on the bottom side with bees!  And I'm standing there wondering what the blue blazes to do.  I got some broom straw and made a little...broom.  I propped the outer cover up for the time being and started sweeping the inner cover off into the hive boxes.  I finally got it fairly clear of bees....then I swept off the bottom of the outer cover.  Finally, though, I decided to put the inner cover on...but I turned the notch down this time so if bees went in they went inside the hive.  The problem there is that there were still some bees under the cover.  Hopefully I can deal with them later.  Also, when setting down the outer cover I know I crush several bees.   :(  If I had had another migratory cover handy it wouldn't have been *nearly* as complicated...at least that part of it.  Also, now I've gotta block the notch hole up before I move them... Yelp, I'm thinking more along the lines of migratory covers.

Well, back out there to see how it's going...  Ed

www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

FRAMEshift

#7
April 02, 2012, 08:05:05 PM
The whole world is watching.   :-D   Good luck.
"You never can tell with bees."  --  Winnie-the-Pooh

AllenF

#8
April 02, 2012, 08:25:38 PM
Great pics.  Gotta love swarms.

Intheswamp

#9
April 02, 2012, 09:00:27 PM
Thanks guys.  I'm worn out.  I did all I could do.

More later, more blow by blow action, more pics, maybe a video ,...oh, and several questions...

Btw, I managed to @$"*(&@____@@#*#*#)@#!bbzzzzzzzzzz.....we are sorry, but the line has been disconnected, please try your call later....<click>

:evil:
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Intheswamp

#10
April 02, 2012, 10:31:49 PM
Ok, here we go...

I skipped getting any pictures of moving the frames out of the camo box and into the medium boxes. This newbee was just concentrating on gettin'em in there. The first frame I picked up I knew something was "different". Lots heavier than I anticipated...ended up there were wads of bees festooning to the bottom bars on the frames along with the ones hanging from the top bars. I felt like I was moving nitroglycerin or something...slowly and smoothly as the festooning bees swayed back and forth. For a newbee...INTENSE!!!! Sorry, no photos. Anyhow this is after moving the frames and putting on the second medium.  I do believe the pile of bees on the front of the camo hive was because they didn't have anywhere to "stand"/hang.

They're beginning to make the short walk over to the mediums...queen must have been in one of those wads of bees! :)  This was the cooperative hive...nice manners and orderly.


Here's some of the fanning bees still in the camo box.  I eventually helped them "moved along" with some my broom straw brush.


Here's a shot from above of the camo box...you can see the bees congregating and exiting the exit towards the medium boxes.


And here ya go, wrapped up like a present with a bow on top.  This is the first time that I've worked with a migratory top...I think I like them.  I put the strap around the hive, stuck a piece of #8 mesh wire in the opening, picked'er up and walked it over to the hive stand. The colony will sit on the hive stand that is second from the right side.  That hive you see sitting out front on the far end is the small colony that the last swarm issued from....that hive will eventually reside on the stand at the far right end of the row.


More to come...
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Intheswamp

#11
April 02, 2012, 10:50:26 PM
Ok, one swarm down...one to go.

These bees were more trouble that the bees in the first swarm. I didn't think about the notch in the inner cover...I had it turned up so that the bees couldn't get out. For some reason the bees decided that was an excellent way to try to get into the hive. They had kept bearding around the edge of the top and I couldn't figure out why. I finally took the top off and there were bees between the inner and outer cover. This picture is actually after I had swept some of the bees off onto the frames.


I went back and forth with these bees. It's amazing I didn't get stung! I'd sweep them onto the frames and in front of the entrance...and they'd be back in a little while. I was beginning to think I was fighting a losing battle. But, as time when by the bees on the outside got fewer...


...and fewer.


Finally, another gift wrapped box. You can see one of my wonderful broom straw brushes in the foreground.


More to come....
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Intheswamp

#12
April 02, 2012, 11:21:57 PM
And finally....


Now, I've got a couple of questions and a few newbee comments...

The small colony that issued the second swarm I thought had swarmed week before last.  On March 24th I check that hive and noted fewer bees in the hive along with three sealed queen cells.  This weekend I figured would be getting close to for those queens to emerge.  I haven't looked yet inside that hive to see if the cells are empty but I thought it pretty interesting that about the time I thought a queen would emerge (and thinking the hive had already swarmed and I missed it)...the hive swarmed.  Is that to be expected?

Though I didn't want them to swarm, the experience is something that I'll never forget...standing in a giant cloud of bees flying, hearing the drone of the buzz...I heard them before I saw them!  It was really amazing!!!  What people have said about them being gentle during this event is true.  My hands have lots of little pricked spots on them.... something else I'll never forget is grubbing those bees out of the briars!!!

I only got one sting to the finger and this was when I was moving some by hand that was down in the thatch under the briars and I must of mashed her.  The several hours that I worked with these bees I only wore a long-sleeved white shirt for protection.  I started to put on a veil, but remembered folks walking up and shaking swarms into boxes in their cut-off jeans while eating bananas (Hi Scott!) so I through caution to the wind (carefully) and wore no gloves or veil.  Even when I'd cut a briar stem with a wad of bees on them and shake them over the frames...no problem, most of the bees would fall onto the frames while some would take flight.  I had some that would fly towards me but it was nothing but bluff if even that...I think they were just kinda "duh" with the swarm excitement and weren't sure which direction to fly in.

I used the little broom straw brushes a *lot*....some of the bees would fly, there would be a definite pitch change in their buzzing, but they never came after me.  There was a few times I got them stirred up enough that I walked off for a few minutes and let them settle down.

Finally, I had them both moved and sitting on stands.  I placed some dried pine tree branches in front of the entrances.  It was getting late, the sun was easing down...they didn't get much time to check out their new digs before they appeared to call it a day.  What a day for this newbee!!!

Do you think I need to feed them or let the work it out themselves...we're just going into privet hedge bloom and yaupon holly has been blooming...got clovers, too.  ???

Anyhow, I'm beat. :)
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Intheswamp

#13
April 03, 2012, 10:24:59 AM
Warning for all you pros out there, don't laugh, these videos definitely ain't pro quality!!!!

Here is a short video of what I first walked up on yesterday morning...
hb_20120402_4726.AVI

Then, while standing there with jaw hanging down watching the bees begin to congregate on the ground I heard something over to my right...
hb_20120402_4737.AVI

Here is a close-in video of the bees swarming around the second swarm's hive boxes, even got a shot of my ugly mug...
hb_20120402_4759.AVI

Hope you enjoy them...if they work.   :-\
Ed
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Intheswamp

#14
April 03, 2012, 11:29:40 AM
One more, this is some of the bees moving into the camo box...

hb_20120402_4745.AVI
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

carlfaba10t

#15
April 03, 2012, 01:03:29 PM
Well again i will say great pics and video, for a new bee you have about 10 more notches on your bee stick than i have.HA! Was wondering if you know what type honey bees you show in the pix on the cameo box, they look a lot like my bees in color and size. They say there is a thin line between bravery and stupidity, referring to working the bees without bee suit. I have done the same thing myself when the bees were really stirred up,no stings yet knock on wood.

Carl :
Carl-I have done so much with so little for so long i can now do something with nothing!

backyard warrior

#16
April 03, 2012, 09:21:21 PM
You are making me laugh this is called experience.  We have all been there not knowing how to keep bees it all comes with experience.  I can tell you one thing you dont have nearly enuff boxes on those hives for the amount of bees.  They def were crowded raised queen cells and when they capped them they swarmed.  Its imperative that you give them undrawn frames in the brood nest at the start of a nectar flow in spring and also room in the top of the hive-- the honey supers.  It is quite a rush and amazing to see the bees cast a swarm its truely awesome.  I guess i should tell all of you when i first got started i hived a few packages. Well to make a long story short one of the packages had a virgin queen in it.  When i put the caged queen in the hive all the bees flew up into a tree 30 ft up and im like what the heck is going on here the queen is down here?? It gets better.  Well i have tree climbing gear right.  So i suit up start scaling the tree and when i get to where the bees are they fly back down to the hive and there i am up 30 ft in the tree.  Make a long story short i got poison from the episode and a lesson about the bees they are the boss.  :evil: Chris

CBEE

#17
April 04, 2012, 11:32:02 AM
Yeah, They sure have a mind of their own :roll: Some Hives are going to swarm no matter what you do. At least you were there to catch them  :-D  Some swarms will stay where they land for a good amount of time but some of them will leave a few minutes after they ball up. I had a small hive swarm on me that just did not want to go beyond 2 medium supers no matter what I did.

Intheswamp

#18
April 04, 2012, 01:01:01 PM
Bad news.... both hived swarms have mostly absconded  Not quiet a double handful of bees left in each hive.  I did see the queen in one of them...the other one I didn't dig a lot to see if the queen was there (no smoke or veil at the time) but they are clustered. 

One swarm is on the ground...looks like a big pile....back in the briars.<sigh>  Need to get to the office...heavy rain predicted.

Ed
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

danno

#19
April 04, 2012, 03:44:29 PM
I seldom loose a swarm if I move them to a new location.  I have 4 yards so it not a problem.   When I get lazy and keep them in the same yard they swarmed from, they quite often leave. 
Print
Go Up Pages1 2 All
User actions