Bad day

Irwin · July 20, 2008, 07:14:10 PM

My bee's swarmed for the second time this month. I do what I can but they just keep going and going. I don't know what to do. They are one block away in my stepdaughter's yard in a rose bush in two swarm's. Got to go talk later.

buzzbee · July 20, 2008, 07:28:33 PM

Catch them and start a new colony!! :)

jason58104 · July 20, 2008, 07:34:26 PM

Keep your chin up Irwin. If this were easy everyone would be doing it. It sounds like you got a hold of some poor stock. Swarming in bees is a genetic trait. We are all in this thing together :)

Grant11 · July 20, 2008, 07:36:02 PM

Kind of late to start a new colony unless you want to feed them all winter. Just add them back to the colony and late the queens fight it out .

buzzbee · July 20, 2008, 10:22:37 PM

I started a swarm this late last year.They are much more efficient at building up than packages.However a combine is okay too.

johnnybigfish · July 20, 2008, 10:51:52 PM

Man, thats some bad luck Irwin,
Are there houses between you and your stepdaughters house? If there are , like in a neighborhood, What are the odds of them landing in a house of a relative??
I guess the worse part is having to keep bringing them home, like when a dog keeps getting out, Except you have to bring thousands back home, huh!?
Do you remember about when i posted about an abandoned trailer up the rd from my house where i found the cabinet full of bees?...Ive been up there 3 times so far catching bees!..I bring them home, they fly back up the rd, and i do it all over again! I even bought a really cool bee vac to do this! I got the queen the second time I think as they are still with me..But, theres still bees up there! But now they are in the ceiling of the trailer..Its one thing climbing the fence, buts I would hate to have the sheriff see me up there tearing the ceiling out! :-\
I guess its good exercise!

your friend,
john

JP · July 21, 2008, 12:19:22 AM

Quote from: Grant11 on July 20, 2008, 07:36:02 PM
Kind of late to start a new colony unless you want to feed them all winter. Just add them back to the colony and late the queens fight it out .

Add an excluder to keep the queens from flying out if the colonies decide to swarm again, for a few days or so.

...JP

Irwin · July 21, 2008, 10:52:26 AM

I got them back I put them in a box with a towel over them. The one's I didn't get came home. the two bunch's combined to a basketball size swarm looked kinda cool. My granddaughter took my wife over there to show them to her she just love's my bee's by the way she is only four year's old. When they were swarming I turned my back for a second and she was standing in the middle of the swarm just before they took off. John I do remember those were great pic's and there is two house's between us they first started to land in a spruce tree in my neighbor's yard glad they moved to the rose bush.I got a guy that has been doing bee's for about fifty years coming over this morning to help me out he said he had a plan but he didn't tell me what it was because he knows I'm a hand's on guy I learn more that way