First swarm of the year and a big one - wouldn't fit in my 5 gallon bucket!

[Bill W.]

I had to remove what would be (around here, anyway) a normal-sized swarm's bees before I could get the rest in the bucket.

I've been so busy, I've had very little time for bees this year and I missed three swarm calls already, but I think this one makes up for it.   :-D



More at http://beesbythesea.com/Bees_by_the_Sea_Apiary/News/Entries/2009/5/25_First_Swarm_of_the_Year.html.

[G3farms]

good grief charlie brown..............now that is a bucket of bees and then some.

wish all of the swarms I found were that big!!

Glad to see you got them put up, good job.

G3

[1reb]

Congratulations on catching that large swarm of bee


Johnny

[annette]

Makes my first swarm look so puny.  It was puny as it was an afterswarm. Congratulations on this swarm of yours. 

[Highlandsfreedom]

WOW!!!  8-)  You look calm cool and collected there I would be jumping up and down with JOY.  Great catch :jawdrop:

[Irwin]

Way to go Bill thanks for sharing :-D

[dpence]

That's a monster swarm...congrats. 

David

[NasalSponge]

That thing is HUGE!! :shock:

[asprince]

Nice swarm! That will be a wax drawing machine! Give them plenty of room or they will swarm again. They will probably make you some honey this year if place near a good flow.

Did you use the bee vac to capture the entire swarm? Was it Robo's design?  That is the way I have all swarms. Got two today. One was so high in an oak tree that I had to place an 8' step ladder on top of the cab of my truck and use 12' of hose extension. I could barely reach it then.

Steve

[Bill W.]

Yep - this is the first swarm I've had that filled a hive.  I put them in two deeps with drawn comb and a medium with empty frames and, as of yesterday, they had drawn four full combs and were working on the rest.

This works out great for me, because I have four weak hives that need bees, so I will draw some of them off for my other hives once they are settled.

I usually only use the vac for cleanup after I get the bulk of the swarm.  Usually, I try to either cut the limb or bang them into the bucket.  This time, I needed to take some off the bottom and I didn't want to risk doing it by hand and having half the clump fall off.  Once I filled a catch box, I was able to get the rest of the swarm into the bucket and cut the branch.

The vac I use is (was?) sold by Kelley, but I have done some modifications, like lengthening the box and adding a momentary on/off switch I can operate with one hand.  It used to kill more bees than I liked, but experience and the modifications have improved things considerably.

[Cindi]

Bill, well shiver me timbers!!!  That is one huge, honkin' swarm, wow!!!  Great pictures by the way.  Have a great and most wonderful day, to love our great life, health.  Cindi