Swarms

Started by gdog, July 09, 2013, 08:39:34 PM

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gdog

Has anyone ever had a swarm show up in the same place twice?

I caught a swarm on the 5Th of July and got a call that the swarm is back, the size of a loaf of bread

Going there in a bit to see if it's really true

tefer2

I get a few every year on the same bush. They like the way it smells. :th_thumbsupup:

AllenF


Better.to.Bee.than.not

it is VERY common for swarms to go to the same spots not only once or twice but multiple different swarms in the same season. In fact, as many here who have seen the skep videos that are around, it was/is a common thing for beeks to do, allow their hives to swarm, and then simply go to the same spots multiple times even in the same day and shake the swarms into a basket to collect them during the swarming period. it is sort of like the best house on the block...everyone wants to live there or at least visit, for whatever their reasons are. Of course we do not do things like that usually in the states, or at least not be me anywhere that I know of...so the freequency is surely much less, but the relevance is the same surely.

BlueBee

BetterBee is right, it is VERY VERY common for swarms to initially land in the same spot.  I've seen it happen dozens of times; even in my own bee yard  :-D

greenbtree

Just got a swarm call yesterday, a guy had a swarm in a tree.  I mentioned it was too far to travel for me and that I knew there was a much closer beek.  The guy said he had that guy out the week before to get the bees and that the guy said there would be a small amount of bees around for two to three days but that now there were even more bees than the first time.  I explained to the guy that the first beek had told him true and did a good job and that he had another swarm in the same spot - that they were attracted by the smell.  I sent him off to call the other beek.

JC
"Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken, or life about to end.  No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend, like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!"

gdog

I went back to look and only collected a handfull and added them to the original swarm.

Better.to.Bee.than.not

you should of took the whole swarm again.

greenbtree: kudo's to you. quite a lot of people out there would of trashed talked the other beek and tried playing up how they were better and the other didn't do their job.

bud1

shake the swarm and pick it after dark
to bee or not to bee

capt44

I had one hive to swarm 5 times this spring and 4 of the swarms were on the same bush as the others.
The 5th swarm was close to the bush but up on a tree limb about 12ft high, the others were on a fence row about 3 foot off the ground.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)