I'm not on any swarm call list and I don't have a truck or a cell phone. I'm not a prime candidate for scoring lots of swarms. I did get a call on 5/13/12 from a neighbor on Alger Rd. who we know vaguely since our kids attend the same school. They called to say a swarm was atop a tree in the middle of their circle driveway and while they were leaving, I could come and try to catch it if I wished.
The tree was a 35' tall ornamental pear and there were bees at the very top. I set up my 20' tall folding ladder and tied it to the tree. While standing in the tree just above where the ladder reached, I was able to cut down 4' long sections of branches that had bees on them. None of them was a tight cluster of bees that might contain a queen, though. They must have left already. What remained was about 100-200 bees that were high enough to make me think the swarm might still be up there. When the neighbors returned they confirmed it was a big mass of bees when they called, about the size of a basketball. They had seen some on the brick face of a peak of their house under an eave. There were still a few dozen bees there and I climbed up to make sure there was no queen. I brushed them off and they came right back. The did not seem inclined to try to go up and in the gap between the house and the soffit.
I left a single deep hive there in case any of the scouts thought it a better home than where ever they flew to, though I think that unlikely. Good luck to you, wild little swarm!
Monday, May 14, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
2012 Nuc #2 (ended 6/2/12 with combine to Hive 6)
Hive status: New nuc in 2012
Hive origin: Split from H4 2012
Queen type: None yet, eggs from H4 2012
Significant events/observations:
5/8/12: Started this hive to prevent swarming of H4. Consists of 3 frames of brood and eggs and one frame of food, each with bees. The Queen from H4 was found during the split and placed back in H4, so this is a nuc that is certainly queenless. With no nuc boxes, it is in a deep with 4 frames that have no drawn comb and 2 frames with a small amount of drawn comb.
5/13/12: 3 uncapped queen cells present, perhaps 6 or 7 days old. They must have realized they were without a queen with enough time to use the eggs from 5/8/12. If a healthy queen emerges she should be mated and perhaps even laying by the end of the month.
5/21/12: I checked in on this hive in case there were queen cells on more than one frame to try to start another nuc. All 3 queen cells were capped on the same frame, so I let them bee. The queens will likely hatch out tomorrow.
6/2/12: Combined with 2012 Hive 6. Refer to that post for additional info.
Hive origin: Split from H4 2012
Queen type: None yet, eggs from H4 2012
Significant events/observations:
5/8/12: Started this hive to prevent swarming of H4. Consists of 3 frames of brood and eggs and one frame of food, each with bees. The Queen from H4 was found during the split and placed back in H4, so this is a nuc that is certainly queenless. With no nuc boxes, it is in a deep with 4 frames that have no drawn comb and 2 frames with a small amount of drawn comb.
5/13/12: 3 uncapped queen cells present, perhaps 6 or 7 days old. They must have realized they were without a queen with enough time to use the eggs from 5/8/12. If a healthy queen emerges she should be mated and perhaps even laying by the end of the month.
5/21/12: I checked in on this hive in case there were queen cells on more than one frame to try to start another nuc. All 3 queen cells were capped on the same frame, so I let them bee. The queens will likely hatch out tomorrow.
6/2/12: Combined with 2012 Hive 6. Refer to that post for additional info.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
2012 Hive #2 (ended 6/2/12 with combine to Hive 5)
Hive status: Overwintered from 2011
Hive origin: Nucleus in 2011, combined with 2012 Hive 5
Queen type: 2012 Italian from H#4 eggs.
Significant events/observations:
2/24/12: Installed a candy board with pollen patty embedded in it (experiment). Overwintered with a deep and shallow super only.
3/11/12: The hive had a small brood nest with eggs observed.
3/21/12: Reversed hive bodies (shallow on bottom, deep on top) and removed entrance reducer. Added a new deep hive body with drawn comb on top and replaced candy board on top of that. It is probably 80% consumed.
4/15/12: Smallish brood nest for this time of year with slower population build, but eggs spotted. Spring drones present. This hive overwintered with a shallow and a deep which were reversed in March. The queen has not started laying in the upper deep yet, which is largely empty. Will keep an eye on this hive as a potential need for population boost from a thriving hive.
4/29/12: Newly queenless on this inspection, no eggs and very little capped brood. Moved one frame with a nearly capped queen cell from H3. As a backup I also moved 2 frames from H4 in that had some eggs in case the one queen cell is not viable as it was moved at a sensitive time in the queen larvae's development. This is a setback.
5/6/12: No new queen spotted. 2 capped queen cells noted, generated from eggs moved over on 4/29/12.
5/22/12: New queen spotted! She's laying just a little on one frame so far, oldest larvae are about 5 days old. One supercedure (threat?) cell was noted and left. They'll likely tear it down if she proves to be a good layer. Moved extra super to H1 so they can focus on filling their 2 deeps.
6/2/12: Queen present but not laying. She was removed to a new nuc, 2012 Nuc 4 with one frame of bees and the rest combined with 2012 Hive 5. Refer to that post for additional info.
Hive origin: Nucleus in 2011, combined with 2012 Hive 5
Queen type: 2012 Italian from H#4 eggs.
Significant events/observations:
2/24/12: Installed a candy board with pollen patty embedded in it (experiment). Overwintered with a deep and shallow super only.
3/11/12: The hive had a small brood nest with eggs observed.
3/21/12: Reversed hive bodies (shallow on bottom, deep on top) and removed entrance reducer. Added a new deep hive body with drawn comb on top and replaced candy board on top of that. It is probably 80% consumed.
4/15/12: Smallish brood nest for this time of year with slower population build, but eggs spotted. Spring drones present. This hive overwintered with a shallow and a deep which were reversed in March. The queen has not started laying in the upper deep yet, which is largely empty. Will keep an eye on this hive as a potential need for population boost from a thriving hive.
4/29/12: Newly queenless on this inspection, no eggs and very little capped brood. Moved one frame with a nearly capped queen cell from H3. As a backup I also moved 2 frames from H4 in that had some eggs in case the one queen cell is not viable as it was moved at a sensitive time in the queen larvae's development. This is a setback.
5/6/12: No new queen spotted. 2 capped queen cells noted, generated from eggs moved over on 4/29/12.
5/22/12: New queen spotted! She's laying just a little on one frame so far, oldest larvae are about 5 days old. One supercedure (threat?) cell was noted and left. They'll likely tear it down if she proves to be a good layer. Moved extra super to H1 so they can focus on filling their 2 deeps.
6/2/12: Queen present but not laying. She was removed to a new nuc, 2012 Nuc 4 with one frame of bees and the rest combined with 2012 Hive 5. Refer to that post for additional info.
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