Picked up a swarm today

[Bill W.]

I walked out of class this morning and noticed a swarm.  I asked the groundskeepers if they wanted me to remove it and they did.  Unfortunately, I live 50 minutes from school and worried that the swarm would either move on or be hurt by the cold, drizzly weather if I took the two hour round trip to retrieve my gear.

So, the grounds people loaned me a ladder and a pair of shears and I scrounged a cardboard box and went to work.  The swarm was about 10 feet up a cascara sapling on top of a 10 foot tall rotting stump, which of course was on the edge of a cliff (no kidding!).

An audience trickled in as I balanced on top of this stump and tried to hook the branch with the bees.  This, of course, was not easy.  I had no room to maneuver on top of this stump and the only way I could get the branch to bend put the bees right in front of my face.  So, you can imagine me holding a branch under high tension, several thousand bees in front of my face, working a pair of shears that normally requires two hands with one arm. 

It turns out the shears were dull.  The branch would not cut cleanly.  So, I had to twist the poorly cut branch until it came clear.  Unfortunately, in the process of twisting, the bottom third of the clump fell off.  And they weren't happy.

So, I got stung six times while I got the remaining two thirds into the cardboard box and taped it shut.  When you are ten feet up a stump on the edge of a cliff, you really have no choice but to stand there and take the stings, and when you have an audience, no choice but to remain good natured about it.  ;)

The question was; did I get the queen?  I hoped so, but I couldn't tell.  As I began to pack up the box, I noticed the swarm was re-forming from the missing third.  That made me think maybe I missed the queen.  Unfortunately, they had chosen a higher branch.  And farther out over the edge of the cliff.  And they were still angry.

So, I made a small opening in the box, placed it nearby in the hopes that the higher bunch would find it and enter it, and then I took the fifty minute drive home to get my gear.  I returned with a better ladder, a pole saw, a hive, and most importantly, a veil.

When I got back, the remaining third was still clustered up, so I used the pole saw to saw most of the way through the branch in the hope that it would bend down where I could reach it.  Unbelievably, this worked and I was able to snip the branch and plop the bees into the hive.  I then dumped in the bees that were already in the cardboard box and closed it up.

By the time I was finished, an even smaller group of stragglers had clustered together, even higher on the tree, and there was no way I was going to be able to get them.  So, hopefully, I have the queen.

My free bees only cost me $15 worth of gas and four hours of my time.  I'd say I earned them.  ;)

[stinger27]

     Awesome.  You should have got hazard pay for the stump balancing act.  I guess the bees will just have to owe you.  Hope everything works out and you have your queen.

[Bill W.]

Wow.  This was a pretty small swarm - not much more than one pound.  But, the hungry little buggers went through more than half a quart of syrup overnight.  I guess spending all day in out in the cold and rain works up an appetite.