WOW! a mating flight

[filmmlif]

i walked into my backyard and i was talking on my cel phone...about 10 feet away i saw a few bees flying about...as my conversation continued i watched as a drone mounted a queen! it was alomst like slow motion! they hovered about 10 feet above the ground for a few seconds and then over my head for what seemed like another 5 seconds....they then flew off for what i'm guessing was a little more privacy.  wow...i never thought i would see that happen!

[beemaster]

Good catch Film!!!

Wondering if you have ever stood amongst a swarm as it does a mass Exodus from the hive and tens of thousands of bees circle around you about 30 foot round and 30 foot high until they finally find a place to land.

I have had that experience about a dozen times and every time the sound of the buzzing drowns out everything else around and is truly amazing to be a part of.

My mating experience (briefly noted on National Public Radio was when I released a observation hive grown queen for mating and she returned to the hive, but the wind blew her into a strip of sticky fly tape - it was a terribly sad thing, I squished (squooshed?) rather than have her torn to pieces in the attempts of rescuing from the glue strip. Irony, as I explained the story to NPR I was opening a hive and got stung - lol.

Glad you saw the mating ritual, the drone definitely gets the raw end of that stick (literally) but his (their) legacy lives on and on.

[filmmlif]

no swarm experience yet...i am looking forward to it but i also hope it never happens, if you know what i mean. i hear it's an amazing act of nature to see.

[manowar422]

filmmlif,
I've been swamped with bee calls the past 10 days.
If your interested in the experience of swarm capture, send me a PM
with your contact info and you're welcome to come along next time I
get a call.

I got a nice one this evening in North Dallas.
About the size of a football on a small tree only four feet from the ground.
Four snips with my pole type tree shears and they were in the bucket 8)
I wish they were all that easy, I spent more time answering questions
from the home owner than working to get the bees.

Today made up for yesterday when I went on three calls only to find
the bees gone by the time I arrived

[Apis629]

Now, through church and friends I've gotten probably 3 calls in the past 2 months.  (That's alot for me.) None of which are swarms, all established hives and only one I agreed to take (wrote about it in a topic).

[TwT]

I hope I some day get to see a mating flight, with my new queens hatching soon I just might but I dout it ......

[beemaster]

I'm waiting on swarm calls myself - I need bees. Being the Number One Beekeeping Idiot (a search term spotted in Goooooogle by Robo - thanks Robo - lol) site in the World makes me long for my hives to be back in the honey making business... Good luck everyone.