During the day at work, I keep my email up and running. On Thursday between appointments, I checked my email to find one from my friend Julia entitled: "Yikes!" Of course that got my immediate attention.
Her son's hive had swarmed. She watched the bees fly out of the hive by the thousands for the twenty minute process of leaving the hive. And then as luck would have it, the bees gathered on a branch in Julia's yard.
Julia, who was taken entirely by surprise by this development, called Martha, the president of our bee club and the Georgia Beekeeper of the Year. Martha came over with an extra hive box and the process of trying to capture the swarm began.
Julia's husband and sons collected the swarm while she took the pictures. (Her youngest son is wearing Julia's beesuit!) They shook the bees into a large Rubbermaid container. Then they poured the swarm into the hive body. Julia sent me pictures and you can now see the process of capturing this swarm by clicking on the slideshow below to see the pictures full-sized:
I love the picture of the proud swarm-catchers in the last slide.
Up to now Julia and her oldest son have each had bee hives, although the family clearly has the outfits for everyone to participate! Now this new hive will belong to her youngest son.
How lucky to be there for the swarm, to have it land in her yard, and to have it be low enough to effect a capture! I wish I could have seen it, but the pictures are fantastic. Thanks for sharing these, Julia.
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