Second swarm in two weeks

[Jim Stovall]

We had our second swarm down on the farm on Wednesday afternoon. We had one a couple of weeks ago, which I posted about earlier. This one gathered around a couple of limbs in a maple tree near the garden. Sally, my wife, discovered it when she was mowing part of the lawn.

The swarm was about 15 feet off the ground, but we were able to reach the limbs to pull them down and consequently did not need a ladder.

This seemed to be a larger swarm than the first one. By the time we saw it and gathered up the gear to capture it, the swarm stretched along the limb for several feet and looked pretty fierce. The most difficult part of this swarm was placing the new hive box correctly under the swarm so it would drop into the box. I was never totally successful at that. Still, enough of the bees dropped into the box so that they got the idea that this was their new home.

The bees that were left gathered around the limb again. After a few minutes, I shook the limb again, and more fell into the box. Even more bees fell to the ground around the box, but I could see them start to migrate into the box. I decided to leave them alone at that point, and eventually, the number around the limb began to dissipate.

I was fortunate to have had the equipment to catch the swarm since I didn't plan on having another one. With this swarm, the apiary has grown to five hives. I had been counting on growing more slowly -- this year three hives, next year a fourth -- but the bees obviously have a different timetable.
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