Swarming in Michigan

BlueBee · April 19, 2012, 09:58:39 PM

Caught my first swarm of the season today; April 19th! Fellow Northerners, keep your eyes and ears open ;)

I suspect this swarm came from one of my overwintered mating frame hives. It wasn't a huge swarm, probably about 3 lbs of bees. I broke my mating hives up a few days ago to populate my mating nucs, but evidently I missed a queen cell and/or didn't do a good job splitting.

I have Italian and Carniolean bees in my little bee yard. Based on the color, this swarm appears to have come from one of the Italian hives. All my hives have really built up big this spring.

AllenF · April 19, 2012, 11:31:39 PM

Sweet

Joe D · April 19, 2012, 11:42:39 PM

Way to go.

Joe

tefer2 · April 20, 2012, 09:43:16 AM

Swarm season has started here too. Problem is that it started with my bees leaving on me! :(

windfall · April 20, 2012, 09:59:27 AM

That's a fun shot of you in the apple at full bloom. Glad you got them back.

Finski · April 20, 2012, 01:17:27 PM

.
We have discussed that weather here and in Michigan is almost same.
Our snow cover has not melted. Alder is making pollen now but bees cannot flye on them.

tefer2 · April 20, 2012, 05:40:20 PM

Hey Bluebee, looks like you got some ankle biters in your apiary

yockey5 · April 20, 2012, 06:10:00 PM

I don't even have flying drones yet?????????

S.M.N.Bee · April 20, 2012, 08:32:22 PM

No swarms here in Minnesota yet. Been cold and rainy with three nights of hard frost.

The queens seam to have shut down somewhat from the cool temperatures so build up is progressing slowly.

John

BlueBee · April 21, 2012, 12:10:55 AM

Yockey, maybe your bees are behind schedule due to those weird daylight saving times you have in IN. Just kidding. I started to see drones flying about a week ago. Now they're everywhere.

As for the ankle biters, yep, I have a few of them. The socks over the jeans is just a precaution to keep those ankle biters from going higher.

Finski, this is a very unusual year in the eastern half of the USA. We are 2 to 3 weeks ahead of schedule weather wise. I live in the lower peninsula of Michigan; most of our Finnish immigrates moved to the upper peninsula of the state. It is cooler up there and they get a lot more snow. According to Wikipedia, the greatest concentration of Finnish Americans is in Michigan's UP. You might feel right at home teaching how to keep bees in Marquettte. They average 360cm of snow a year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquette,_Michigan

SMN Bee, that cold air is moving over us as I type. Brrrrrr.

MTWIBadger · April 21, 2012, 01:57:56 AM

Southwest Montana is way behind Michigan as my my apple trees haven't even leafed out yet. I do finally have a few dandelions.

Finski · April 21, 2012, 03:48:04 AM

Quote from: BlueBee on April 21, 2012, 12:10:55 AM

Finski, this is a very unusual year in the eastern half of the USA. We are 2 to 3 weeks ahead of schedule weather wise.

however the angle of sun radiation is every year the same.
In UK they have bad weathers. Canola blooms and sun is shining but temp is under 10C.
Then they got low pressure and rains. Guys hope that bees can forage between rain showers and queens mate at 10C. They have forgotten that 20C exists.

Jim134 · April 21, 2012, 05:31:29 AM

Apple at about 25% bloom in Massachusetts 3 weeks ahead of schedule weather wise and yes bees are swarming about 5 weeks ahead of normal. Very unusual year in this part of New England.

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

Finski · April 21, 2012, 08:58:57 AM

Quote from: Jim 134 on April 21, 2012, 05:31:29 AM
Apple at about 25% bloom in Massachusetts 3 weeks ahead of schedule weather wise and yes bees are swarming about 5 weeks ahead of normal. Very unusual year in this part of New England.

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

that is special because it needs long time warm spring. Not only couple of weeks.

.

Jim134 · April 21, 2012, 09:14:57 AM

Quote from: Finski on April 21, 2012, 08:58:57 AM
Quote from: Jim 134 on April 21, 2012, 05:31:29 AM
Apple at about 25% bloom in Massachusetts 3 weeks ahead of schedule weather wise and yes bees are swarming about 5 weeks ahead of normal. Very unusual year in this part of New England.

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

that is special because it needs long time warm spring. Not only couple of weeks.

.

At been very warm for the pasts 13 to 14 weeks. Not just 2 or 3 weeks.And no snow cove for the past 8 to 10 weeks.

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

BlueBee · April 25, 2012, 12:12:36 AM

Another fine looking group of Italians hit the trees again today. If this looks a little like déjà vu, it is. A swarm landed in this same spot in this apple tree 5 days ago. At least they're not making it too hard for me to collect them :)

We've been under the influence of the Noreaster on the east coast for a good 3 days now. Constant wind and cold blowing on us from Canada. It's been miserable. These bees were really huddled into a pretty tight ball when I found then about 6pm. Again they were not a huge swarm, but looked like a healthy 3lbs of bees when I brushed them into my swarm catching bucket.

Northern bee keepers, keep your eyes and ears in the trees!

My swarms have been pretty gentle. I did get a sting to the check tonight, but I don't think it got much venom in. I had bees crawling inside my sweater by the time I was done, but didn't get stung by any of them. Maybe it was just too cold and nasty for the girls to sting, or maybe they were Democrats. Either way, nice bees. I hived this swarm into one of my jumbo frame (14.5" deep) nucs.

sterling · April 25, 2012, 12:37:06 PM

Are these swarms from your hives?
BTW I like the color of your jacket yor must have bought it on one of your trips through Tennessee. :-D

T Beek · April 26, 2012, 06:55:58 PM

Seems like we're about a month behind you BlueBee. Nice pics. Thanks.

My Long Hive (winter survivor) is currently busting at the seams and I have 2 lonely queens that I'd love to turn into NUCs with frames borrowed from the LH. Unfortunately, here in N/W Wisconsin we're having difficulty breaking and/or staying into the 50's.

Hived 2 packages yesterday at dusk on a dare, temp was in the forties all day, but finally hit 60 just as the sun went down. Got down to 32F last night and was 'snowing' this AM. High today so far is 49F. If temps don't get above 55 tommorrow I'll likely loose the queens as I'm not willing to open up a broodnest unless its at least 55F. So it goes.

But I've also got 2 NUCs coming in about a week so will have lots to do regardless of how this turns out.

On another positive note; Dandelions have BEGUN blooming and my bees have noticed the few scattered around already!!!!

tefer2 · April 26, 2012, 08:58:37 PM

We've had heavy dandelion action for weeks here in Michigan. Still spring though, with it dipping down to a balmy 25 degrees tonight. There go all the flowers.

T Beek · April 26, 2012, 09:42:20 PM

A month ago our cherries were blooming and our survivor bees were enjoying an 'apparent' early Spring. After 2-3 weeks of teens and low 20's at night we won't have any cherries unless we get to Door County, Wisconsin this year.

I sense a Cherry Festival road trip in the near future 8-).