Capturing a Swarm 2013

Today I was driving home from Rabun County and one of my friends, Patty Engstrom, called me.  She had a swarm of bees in her holly bush and wanted to see if I'd like to come get it.  My WAZE on my iPhone said I would be home by 10:22 so I told Patty I'd be at her house to get the swarm before 11:30.

The swarm was HUGE.  I had taken a banker's box rather than a nuc box because she had described it as about 15 inches tall and 12 inches wide.  It looked like a basketball with a witches cap on either end. But it was hot in Atlanta today so I started worrying about such a large swarm in a banker's box with #8 hardware cloth over each of the handle openings.

I laid down a sheet to catch any bees that missed the box and strategically placed the box directly under the swarm.  Patty lent me her shears to clip of the holly branches that were in the way.

The bees marched into the box to join the queen and were almost completely in the box about 30 minutes after shaking the branch.  Julia came over to meet me and brought me a screened top to put over the box so they wouldn't be so hot.  She also brought some sugar syrup spray - since in my hurry I left mine at home.

The swarm was so huge that it dislodged the hardware over one of the hand holds - so my car was full of loose bees as I drove home.  I installed it into a two box 8 frame hive because it was too large for one medium box.  Then I spent a long time brushing loose bees into a Tupperware pitcher and carrying them to the backyard to dump them into the hive!

The slide show is below for your enjoyment.  If you click directly on the slideshow, you'll be able to read the captions.

Snippets of Follow-up on this Bee Year's Bumpy Start

My mentor and friend, Penny, suggested in a note that I write to Tom Seeley and ask him why a swarm hived into what looks like a good situation, would abscond.  So I sent this email to him on his Cornell contact site:


Hi Dr. Seeley,

I am so thrilled that you are speaking to my bee club, MABA, on Wednesday in May before I again get to learn from you at Young Harris.  I am writing because I hope you can address my swarm question in your talk, if possible.  

For the third time in my beekeeping experience, we hived a swarm in what looked like great conditions for their happiness and the swarm absconded.  The swarm, as we jokingly measure them, was a 3 cat swarm (the size of three cats).  Here's a link to a slideshow showing the installation:
http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2013/02/swarm-for-chastain-conservancy.html  The swarm went into a 3 medium box hive with drawn comb and about 2 empty frames;  there was a rapid feeder on top with honey in it; there was an entrance reducer in place.  The hive is in the center of the Chastain Park, Atlanta's largest public park, in the middle of a golf course.  

Three days later, the swarm was gone.  All that was left was a handful of bees who were probably out foraging when the others left.  They were hived on a cloudy, cold day.  Any thoughts about why swarms abscond under what looks like ideal conditions for happiness?

Thanks in advance and I would be glad either to get an email from you or to hear about this in your talk at Metro. 

Looking forward to meeting you,
Linda Tillman

Also Penny suggested that I send samples from the dead-outs to the bee lab at Beltsville, MD.  It's too cold in Atlanta for today (and I have grandchildren at my house all day) and for the next few days to revisit the hives who were bereft of bees.  However, when I get there again, I now have the link to the bee lab.  They analyze dead bees (if they are not decayed) and brood comb with or without brood to see if they can determine what the cause of death might have been.  Surprisingly it is a FREE service.

I remember last year in Asheville when the man from the bee lab in North Carolina that analyzes wax for Mary Ann Frazer was one of the speakers.  I believe the lowest cost for analyzing the wax was $250.  So I am shocked to find out that the Beltsville lab is glad to provide this service for free.  There are also directions on the site about how to manage the samples (the bees must be put in alcohol, but the alcohol must be drained before shipping since it isn't allowed by the shippers).  Comb can be wrapped in a paper towel.

And then just to warm my heart and make me feel less despondent, there's a wonderful article by James Tew in the newest Bee Culture about his bee losses.  (That link will take you to Bee Culture's extremely useful web page but the magazine itself is not available online unless you have an online subscription.)  Tew holds an annual symposium at Auburn.  I missed it this year but want to go next year.    He acknowledges how hard it is to look at and own the fact that winter losses happen, even to him.  He relates beekeeping to the myth of Sisyphus.  Sisyphus' punishment is to roll a stone up a steep hill.  Every time he gets to the top, the stone rolls back down again, and again, and again.  Tew likens his beekeeping to the penance of Sisyphus and I can certainly get into that boat.  But he says, "For me it is not a penalty.  I want to continue rolling that rock up that hill."  Me, too.

For the first time this year, however, I am not spending lots of money on bees.  Last year I spent a lot (close to $1000) getting my hives up and running.  This year I have not ordered any equipment except for two medium cypress nuc boxes that I bought optimistically thinking I would be splitting all of these hives (HA, HA).  And I bought those from Rossman at GBA so I didn't have to pay for shipping.  And I ordered one package of bees from Don Kuchenmeister to populate my hive at Chastain since we use it for teaching.  I'll be getting them on St. Paddy's Day.  Does that give them the luck of the Irish to succeed?  I certainly hope so.

Decatur Swarm

Yesterday I got a swarm call to go to Decatur and collect a swarm from someone's yard.  It was reported to be about 6 feet up and when I got there, that was the case.



I put a sheet under the swarm and collected them with the water jug part of my swarm catcher.  I dumped them into this banker's box (a pretty easy way to carry a swarm home).



I was so glad I had put a sheet under the swarm.  There were lots of bees on it and I shook them into the banker's box.  They didn't all leave the sheet so I rolled it up and put it in my car.


I used clippers to cut off the branch with the remaining bees on it.  I put the branch, bees and all into the collection box.



Once home it was dark and I installed the bees into a hive box and put in frames, one with old comb.



So they are now living in my apiary.  I hope they do well.



Tonight I had company for dinner and as the guests arrived (also beekeepers) they pointed out a swarm of bees in my own front yard that had landed on an azalea bush.  I'll collect them in the morning before I drive to Rabun County to install bees.

They can't be from my hives since I only have the two splits: SOS1 and SOS2 and the swarm I collected last night.  I do also have the MABA club nuc which I just got and was described as being "about to swarm."  Or maybe this is a secondary swarm from one of Jerry's hives (Jerry lives about a football field's length from my house on another nearby street.

New Swarm for Blue Heron

Gina went to Tucker today and collected a swarm for the Blue Heron.  It was lovely and a big swarm.  How grateful we are to have a good hive now at Blue Heron.  Here's the slideshow:

End of the Week Hive Report So Far

Stonehurst Place:  Stopped there on Tuesday (one week from my last visit).  The bees were busily flying in and out but they had not drawn or used the frames in the top box on either hive.  Despite the way my bees are flying, the nectar flow must be slowing somewhat.

Home:  Also checked on Tuesday.  Colony Square had drawn and filled two of the 8 frames in the top box and was just looking at the rest of the frames in that box.  Lenox Pointe had drawn none of the frames in its top box. The swarm hive had not drawn any (they had been in the hive for three days at this point), so I made some sugar syrup and fed them inside the hive.

By yesterday, that baggie looked like this:

So today it was empty and so I replaced it with a full bag.

I opened up the swarm hive and the queen is laying.  I was relieved to see eggs.  I am so glad that the queen is there, but they have very little comb drawn - just about four frames in the top box and are not using the bottom box at all.

Next week I'll switch the box positions.

Blue Heron:  We had terrible weather in Atlanta last night so I didn't check on the Blue Heron this week.  The hive combination should have taken by now and the queen should have been raised.  (We combined the hives and gave them resources to make a queen on May 7).  However, we won't open that hive until June 19 when the next hive inspection is scheduled.  That way the queen has time to get out, get mated, and begin laying.

Rabun:  I'm going up to the mountains tomorrow and will check on the hives there.  It's about to be sourwood season, so I'll make sure they have honey supers ready for honey storage.

Topsy and  Linda T's Bees in South Georgia:  Haven't been to either in a while, but will go check on Topsy on Monday and will go to South Georgia in the next couple of weekends.  Greg is down there looking over the situation this weekend so I'm not too worried about them.

Free Bees in Dallas, GA for Jeff's First Swarm Capture

Greg has a friend in Dallas, GA who called to report a swarm of bees in the yard of a rental house he owns.  Greg was going to be tied up this morning.  At a recent MABA meeting, Mickey Anderson, a club member who used to work for Rossman Bees, talked to the bee club about how a swarm will leave for its new home, chosen by the scout bees, usually between 10AM and 2PM.  If the swarm is still hanging after 2, then it probably won't go anywhere that day.

So Jeff and I went to get the bees without Greg so that they wouldn't relocate after 10 AM.  Dallas is about an hour's drive from my house in Atlanta.  Trusting our phone's navigation systems and my GPS, we eventually found the place and got the bees.

They are Greg's bees so they will go to our business in south Georgia, replacing one of our lost hives.

Here's the slide show which is a pretty good representation of how to capture a swarm. Many thanks to Ryan who shot pictures while we did the collection. Be sure to click on the slides to be able to see everything (and the captions for the pictures) full screen.