Need help fast - catching a swarm

[reinbeau]

There's a swarm high up in an elm tree - way too high to catch manually.  We've got a bait hive setup with lemongrass oil in it as an attractant, Greg put it on the hive stand with the rest - should we move it to a different location?  We think these are bees from our hive #1 (why do these packages get so swarmy??).  Maybe it isn't, but we want that swarm.  HELP!

[bassman1977]

You don't need to move it to a different location, I would however put a queen excluder between the bottom board and bottom box.  This should keep ol' queen in until they settle down a bit.  Don't keep the excluder on more than a couple days in case the queen is a virgin.  She'll need to get out and mate.

[NasalSponge]

How high up is it?? I have heard of folks shooting the branch off. Then there is throwing a line over the branch with a rod and a fishing weight then tying that to a stronger rope,  adding a 5 gal bucket with a frame of open brood in it and pulling it up close to the swarm. You also might try moving your bait hive onto a ladder if you have one close to the tree.

[woodchopper]

We just added supers to these three hives this past weekend so they had plenty of room. After I discovered the swarm I went into all three hives to make sure they had plenty of room and that wasn't what made them swarm. You'd think new uncrowded packages wouldn't WANT to swarm. I guess it is true that the bees are going to do what ever they want to do.
To add to the excitement of all this happening a piece of my smoker between the bellows and the smoker fell off some place rendering my smoker useless. During my inspections I killed a few more bees than I was comfortable with. I did the best I could without a smoker.
I really love beekeeping but days like this can sometimes take the fun out of it. I hope our luck improves because this year has been one set back after another.

[bassman1977]

We just added supers to these three hives this past weekend so they had plenty of room.

They probably knew they were going to swarm well before that.

I really love beekeeping but days like this can sometimes take the fun out of it.

I hear ya.  The swarming doesn't bother me too much.  What comes around goes around in my opinion.  I lose some swarms and I find some swarms.  It happens.  I hate winter loses.  9 times out of 10 I find it's more my mistake than anything.  This past winter was an exception though.

I hope our luck improves because this year has been one set back after another.

For me it's always one step forward, two steps back...or so it seems.  Gotta break that cycle some how.  Chin up!

[reinbeau]

Thing is these are new packages, installed just mid-April.  Why are they so swarmy?  We had a package swarm last year, too.  It's a PITA. 

The swarm is still up there.  We think it's from our hives, hive #1 to be exact, but we can't be sure.  Here's a picture of it:



Here is a movie showing the swarm in relation to the hives.  You can see the cluster forming in the middle to upper right hand of the tree.

[JP]

Ann, I couldn't view the video but the picture is telling me to put a rope around the branch they're on if you can get to it and yank that sucker hard!

Hope you get them.


...JP

[bassman1977]

It was impossible to see the bees in the video.  A swarm that high up = gift to nature in my books.  I wish I could answer why the packages are so swarmy.  I never had that issue.

[Brian D. Bray]

We just added supers to these three hives this past weekend so they had plenty of room.

They probably knew they were going to swarm well before that.

Timely supering  to prevent a swarm requires supering 3 weeks out.  If you wait too long the bees have already switched to swarm mode and no amount of supering will stop it.  Once swarm cells are noted a old queen away split might stop the swarming, then it might not.

I really love beekeeping but days like this can sometimes take the fun out of it.

I hear ya.  The swarming doesn't bother me too much.  What comes around goes around in my opinion.  I lose some swarms and I find some swarms.  It happens.  I hate winter loses.  9 times out of 10 I find it's more my mistake than anything.  This past winter was an exception though.

Winter loses are usually due to 3 reasons:
1. The cold spell lasted so long the bees couldn't or wouldn't break cluster to bring honey from the storage frames into the cells under the cluster.
2. Not enough stores for the size of the cluster.  Italians are more prone to this than Carnies or Russians.  Feed in the Fall.
3. Improper ventilation that causes the bees to get wet and they freeze and die.

Lost bees are a bummer anytime, even a flown away swarm call is a downer.  The objective is to decrease the uncontrolled swarming and build the bee yard.

I hope our luck improves because this year has been one set back after another.

For me it's always one step forward, two steps back...or so it seems.  Gotta break that cycle some how.  Chin up!

Beekeeping is a form of farming, you are at nature's whim, somethings you can control, some you can't.  It's the long haul that counts, and just when you think you have it solved nature throws you another monkey wrench.

[reinbeau]

Just an update - those stupid bees are still up there, in the rain, they've moved higher in the elm tree.  I do wish there was a way to get them, outside of a bucket truck or something very dangerous.....

[JP]

Ann, how high are they? Have y'all thought about the bucket and long pole trick of dislodging them?


...JP

[johnnybigfish]

That looks like a koala bear up in that tree to me!

your friend,
john

[Natalie]

I just found this thread, I didn't know you had a swarm to catch!
I just caught my first swarm this past Sunday, its so exciting!
They really are too high up to get them safely but maybe they will go into the bait hive.
Good luck with it and keep us posted.

[reinbeau]

Way too high for a bucket.  We do have a bait hive out there, maybe, with any luck, they'll be in there when we get back from Maine.