ENVIRONMENT

I had two swarms today and got both of them down by "drumming the bees".  I was blown away that it actually worked.

The first one came out of one my hives that had five empty frames in the upper brood box. So plenty of space.  Gary Thompson and Renee Munly were here at the time. The swarm was about 20 feet in the air in front of the hive.  I had Gary beating on a metal pail while I went through the brood boxes.  There was ONE swarm cell which is highly unusual. Usually there are many more.  I moved that frame which was covered with capped brood and one other capped brood frame to a new mating box.  I then put two frames of drawn comb in the bottom box. There were five in the second box and I added a third box.  Low and behold the bees came down and went back into the hive.  There's nothing to say they are going to stay but maybe.  I'll check in a week to see if there's any eggs and larva.  The queen cell in the new mating nuc is gorgeous.

Renee and I were sitting on the swing, talking bees when another swarm is flying around on the street in front of us.  I first thought it was the same hive swarming again but it wasn't.  This one didn't come from one of my hives.  So again I started beating on a lid and AGAIN the swarm came down. This time it came all the way down to the ground!

I took one of my apimaye ten frame deeps that has the bottom attached and put five frames in it.  I then turned the box over on top of the swarm, covering about 95% of it.  Within one minute (!) all the bees climbed into the box.  We turned it right side up, let the rest of the bees climb in and five minutes later moved it to its new permanent home.  "Permanent" unless they leave tomorrow.  I've seen that happen.

In any case, it was an amazing day. 

I now have eleven full colonies and four mating nucs.  A bit too many????

Never!  Well, maybe....

Swarm catching group on Facebook.... lots of info and ideas... some maybe not so good.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BbAoapwzf/

Before I knew anything about bees except that they sting, I found myself in my backyard standing in the middle of a swarm.  I was terrified. Ran to the house and called a beekeeper friend who said to call him if they landed.  They didn’t.  About a week later a different swarm landed in my blackberries.  He came, put them in a box which he left there for a few days. During those days I began to observe how they didn’t pay any attention to me. They no longer frightened me. So I told him ‘Those bees chose me.  I’m keeping them.’  That’s how it all began ten years ago.

Swarms are so awesome (but not so much when they are coming out of our own hive).  I’m hearing about more and more swarms.  They seem a little late to me this year.   I keep a sheet and nuc box in my car, some clippers to cut a branch depending on where they land, my bee suit and gloves. Putting a cloth on the ground underneath where you are going to drop them makes it easier for them to march into the box.  I usually only get one swarm a year but some of our members have already gotten three or four!

If you can, cutting the branch the swarm is on is a good idea because the queen smell on the branch keeps some of the bees there.

It’s easy enough to get the swarm down if they are not too high. Bob Allen told us he used to throw a rope with a weight on the end over a higher up limb and just pull on the rope to get them back in the air.  It worked some of the time.

If the bees are in an awkward place I’ve seen it work to put a basket or something upside down on top of them.  They crawl right up into it.  A skep works great but most of us don’t have one.

Putting an inviting bait hive, this time with honey might help them pick that place.  Usually, it’s not a good idea to put honey in a bait hive. It simply attracts robbers.

If the swarm is still in the air there’s something called “drumming the bees”. In Europe “tanging the bees”.  You bang rhythmically on a metal pan or the metal lid of the hive and for some reason the bees come down to ground level.  There are people even in our club who have done that successfully.  It sometimes takes quite a long time (15 minutes or more). 

One person told me when she was young and there was a swarm her father would start the chain saw to bring them down! Some think it has something to do with imitating lightening and thunder.

I accidently found a video of swarming bees responding to the sound of lightning and thunder played on this guy’s cell phone!  What a novel idea.  He also put out a glob of ‘swarm commander’. Some use lemongrass oil in its place. That would never have occurred to me since the colony has a queen. I would not have thought they would be attracted to a swarm lure. But I’m constantly learning and constantly amazed at what I am learning.  Hope you are, too.

Here is the video.  It’s a bit too long (20 minutes) but you can fast forward through parts of it. Needless to say, if you do it and it works (or not) let us know!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u50GTUL98LQ

Then I did a google search on “drumming the bees” and found a story of someone using a flute and a crystal music bowl. 

This was followed by a search on “tanging the bees”.   This is short and cute! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7tR_v18uEg&t=42s

Wishing you many swarms and much joy in your beekeeping life.