Caught my first swarm

[Greg Peck]

I received a call from the local beekeep association asking if I wanted a swarm. This was at about 9:00 am I told the guy that I would take it but that I would not be able to get to it until the after noon. Long story short I did not get there until around 7:00 pm. The bees were still there. I tried to cut the end off the branch off above the swarm then I was going to cut the branch off containing the swarm and put it in the hive. When I was cutting the branch past the swarm my clippers popped the branch and half of the bees fell about 12 feet to the ground. I had not placed the hive below so then fell into some flowers. After that happened I just cut the branch off and put it in the box then set the box near where the bees had fallen. A few minutes later the bees started crawling in to the hive. So it all worked out, just not as smooth as I would have liked, but not too bad for my first time. So I am up to 6 hives now and soon to be 8 I think.


Click to enlarge!


Click to enlarge!

[pdmattox]

Nice swarm and you gotta love those haging branch swarms over the cutout the others are having to do.  congrats.

[Mici]

everybody's getting swarms, cut outs and everything..except for me :? :-\

[Greg Peck]

These bees are kind of black. Not like the ones on MB's website but still a lot darker then my Italians. I will get some pics soon to see what you guys think.

[Moonshae]

I'd be thrilled to find a swarm, but with nowhere to put them, I'd be stuck. Our Dept. of Agriculture recommends no more than 3 hives on plots < .25 acres, so I've only got room for 1 more. I figure that if i get a couple nuc boxes, and fill them, a craig's list ad will find me alternate locations to place more, but I still have to get the nuc boxes...maybe in a couple months, so I'm ready for next swarm season.