On Saturday afternoon while walking downhill to the main bee yard I saw a swarm of honey bees in the grass under a pin oak which was surprising to me since it is late in the season. I quickly grabbed a nuc and a broom and a dustpan and went to work on capturing the swarm. The broom and dustpan were ineffective so starting on the edge of the swarm, I scooped up bees with my gloved hands, dropping them into the nuc. After scooping up several hands full of bees, I noticed out of the corner of my eye the queen bee, who was black in color, on the top of the nuc hive body, so I knocked her back into the nuc and quickly put the top cover on, sealing her inside. Afterward, I figured I got her because the rest of the bees started to swarm on the outside of the nuc. I carried the nuc to our other bee yard, about 300 yards away from where I captured the swarm, located between the horse pastures, in the dappled sunlight of a tree line made up of cedars. I planned on opening it up in the early morning on Sunday and walked back down to the main bee yard where I spied a second swarm about 60 feet off the ground in the top of an ailanthus tree in the tree line between the main bee yard and the cow pasture…because of the location of this second swarm I was at a loss as how to capture it so I left it alone. On Sunday morning the second swarm was still at the top of the ailanthus tree so I opened up the nuc that contained the first swarm. The honey bees were docile and went in and out of the nuc which is a good sign…
...when I got back to the main bee yard I noticed the second swarm had left the tree top and was now trying to invade one of my hives through the slot in the back of the screened bottom board, between the hive stand and screened bottom board, where you slide in the board to seal the hive to keep it warm in winter. Fortunately, the second swarm was separated from our honey bees by the wire mesh screen and could not invade our hive. After unsuccessfully trying to lure the second swarm out using a bait hive, I simply moved our hive onto a new bottom board and hive stand and shook the invading honey bee swarm off the screened bottom board and into a second nuc, which I had standing by for this purpose, and then rapidly put the cover on top. The rest of the honey bee swarm started swarming all over the outside of this nuc as well, indicating to me that I had captured their queen bee inside.
Like the nuc containing the first swarm, I moved this second swarm to the other bee yard and will open up the nuc early tomorrow morning. Because it is so late in the season, I hope both these swarms have enough time to prepare their new hives so as to make it through winter.
LET US KNOW IF YOUR HONEY POT IS EMPTY OURS IS OVERFLOWING! IF YOU NEED HONEY LET US KNOW! SUMMER HONEY KEEPS POURING IN!
Buy Now Using PayPal
Note: Shipping will be invoiced separately via PayPal based on quantity purchased!
DON'T DELAY: ORDER YOUR SANTA ROSA WILDFLOWER HONEY TODAY!
No comments:
Post a Comment