They were hanging in an apricot tree about 4 feet from the ground. I placed the basket under them on a sheet. I pruned a few small branches out of the way. I couldn't find a way to really shake the main branch they were on so I ended up kicking it. That worked. Video here.
Most of them dropped right in the basket. The force of the kick sent a little less than half of them beyond the basket and onto the sheet. I ended up shaking the sheet into the basket.
The fliers all returned to the tree. I kicked them off several times but they kept going back. The fanning bees in the basket made no difference. The wind was pretty strong. I think it must have been blowing the nasanov away. In the end I cut about 10 inches of the main branch off and shook them directly into the basket. With no branch to return to, they all found the basket.
I took them home and installed them in my new barrel hive. I think I'll call it the sun barrel. It's modeled after the sun hive that I've seen online quite a bit. Here's to hoping they like it and build where I want them too.
Notes:
1 - Attach basket liner to bottom of basket to make it easier to shake bees out without loosing the liner.
2 - Fix barrel hive lid so it doesn't squish bees when I close it.
3 - Find a way to keep comb guides erect. They are easy to tip over and I'm worried about the weight of the bees making them topple. Once the combs are complete the weight will be centered and I'm sure it will be fine, Until then they might be too top heavy.
hows the sun barrel, did you get through winter ok . looking to make one myself , just scanning the net for the critical dimensions..
ReplyDeleteryan