Catching a swarm

May 12, 2011.

After their "practice swarm" the day before, I was nervous that they'd really swarm and I'd miss it. I was about to return to work from my lunch break and I was explaining to my wife what to look for so she could call me if they swarmed. As I was explaining this, they swarmed. Poured out of the hive as we were watching. I grabbed the camera and caught it on video (see below). They flew around the yard for a while and then headed north west over the fence and down the hill. I was in hot pursuit. They decided to settle on a small chinese elm tree about 100 yards from their hive. I grabbed my bait hive (with a couple bars of empty comb), vail, camera and tripod and went after them. I managed to catch the swarm and they are now settled in a TBH out at the Peczuh farm. They whole process, aside from moving them to the farm, took about an hour. I managed to capture most of it on video.

I love swarms!

I did not take even one sting while catching the swarm, however I made up for that when transferring them into their permanent home. I transferred all the bars (full of bees) to the top bar hive and then shook the rest of the bees out into the hive. Some of them fell on the ground and as I proceeded to put the hive back together, these bees crawled up my legs trying to get back to the hive. Most were on the outside of my levis and I was able to brush them off. Several were inside my levis and I took 3 stings. The first sting was a result of me intentionally squishing a bee against my inner thigh to prevent her from crawling further up my pant leg. The other 2 were a result of me trying, unsuccessfully, to shake the rest out of my pant leg. Live and learn, right?