Elmo Swarm / Lost Swarm

I got a call a couple days ago about a swarm in Elmo (a small town nearby) that had been in a bush in the back yard for a couple of days. We drove out to get it. It was low in a bush near a fence but was perfect for setting the basket under. I only took 2 stings. One on the thumb during the initial drop and another when I shook them out of the sheet. Must have pissed one off then. She followed me for a bit before finally getting  me behind the ear.

It only took about 30 mins for all the girls to go in the basket after I shook them in.
Video here:
http://youtu.be/s1xNi_-8KTs

I tied the lid on the basket and drove it home without trouble. I placed it behind the shed (after dark now) with plans to put them in a hive the next day.

The next day at lunch there were bees coming and going. I had visions of them building comb inside my swarm basket. After work, there were still bees (many drones) flying around the basket. After dinner I went to put them into a proper hive and they had gone. Only a single drone remained in the basket.
I scouted the neighborhood looking to see if they had landed nearby but with no luck.

I had the thought to put the basket in the shade but I didn't do it. I wonder if it got to hot for them, or if it was too light in the basket, or not closed up enough. Who knows. I guess for future, I'll know not to leave them in there longer than just to get them home. I love the basket for catching them. It's huge and is easy to manage. Catching only - not storage!

Peach Tree Swarm

I got a call tonight about a swarm of bees in town. I got the call just as the sun went down. I checked them out and decided to catch them tonight (tomorrow's schedule wouldn't allow it). They were on a peach tree about 4 feet off the ground. I know of 1 swarm a year within a block of this swarm for the last 3 years. One of them I caught out of an apple tree. It can bee seen here. The other was dead before I got to it. Sprayed by wasp killer by an ignorant neighbor. Large swarms all three.

I took sheet and a large basket. The bees were huddled pretty tight. I placed the sheet on the ground under the swarm. I held the basket directly under the swarm and shook the tree. Those girls were hanging on tight. I was amazed at how tight they were hanging on. I got most of them but there were still a bunch that would not shake off the tree. I scooped up some small clusters from the sheet with my hand and put them in the basket. It was dark so none of them were flying. I took a sting to my right pinky finger. Ouch. Didn't swell much though. We brushed as many bees from the tree as we could.

I drove the basket home and shook it into my rustic cedar TBH. I will place it at the cabin in the mountains in the next week or so. I'm curious how much and how good the honey will be with all the wild flowers up there.

Small video of swarm capture here:
http://youtu.be/oKMPvbSR1ow

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?

Practice Swarm

On Wednesday, May 11 my bees went nuts. I thought they were swarming (see video below).

After about a half hour of this, they all went back into the hive.

There were 10 or so drones crawling around in the grass in front of the hive as if they were stuck. not sure what that was about. Apparently the queen didn't come out (I've since learned this happens occasionally)

Spring pollen

Had a very beautiful day today. Got a lot of yard work done. Attempted my first apple tree grafts. Spent some time with the bees. All three of my colonies had girls out today. They are bringing in some light yellow pollen. Lots of light yellow pollen (see pics). I'm not sure what it is. The willows are barely beginning to bud. I've seen a crocus here and there but the dandelions aren't even up. Whatever it is, I'm glad they have it.

The TBH at Rosier's was especially busy (and quite friendly).

Varroa Mite

I got a closer look at the mite I found on one of the girls yesterday. These photos and video were taken with a hand held iPhone looking through a 40x magnifier at work (The video is a bit shaky).

These little buggers have one monster of a grip. When I first scraped it off of the bee with the end of my razor knife, It would not let go of the blade. I could not shake it off or knock it off by hitting the blade on the desk. I ended up scraping it off with another blade to get it on the desk for observation. The dead be was on the desk about 1/2 inch away from the mite. The mite crawled over and climbed back on the bee (though at that point it was just a bee head (half a bee?))

Underside

Top side (hairy)

Mite on Bee Head

You can see it crawling around on the "hair" towards the end of the clip.

Underside. I didn't get it on video but I watched it flip itself upright with those short stubby legs.

Midnight Bees Transfer to permanent TBH

Time: 12:30
Weather: 90 degrees, sunny, no wind.

Transfered my midnight swarm on the Peczuh Farm from my swarm catching hive to a permanent TBH (42 inch).

Wasn't sure how they'd behave so I took my gear (just in case). Ended up not using it. Very gentle bees.

They had built 4 combs of wax already (in just four days) and were busy filling them with nectar and pollen.

Slightly cross combed with some attached to the end of the box. Collapsed one comb trying to straighten it. Moved the other three (on four bars) as one unit.
Placed top bars with 1 inch wooden comb guides (rubbed with bees wax) to either side of what they had built - hope this straightens them out. Combs are too new for much manipulation.

Dumped the rest of the bees in (along with dried mud and sand from the bottom of the swarm box (didn't have a proper bee brush). Note to self: Get a proper bee brush. Left way too many empty top bars between the follower boards as I could not get the bees I dumped to move out of the way to place the follower board where I wanted it. Hopefully in a couple of days I can remove them - tighten it up a bit.

Did not see the queen. Nor did I see any eggs.

Placed the new TBH about six feet further north with the entrances on the west (instead of the east)
This confused some of the foragers who returned to where the swarm catching hive used to be. They just started hanging out on the pallet where it had been sitting.

Checked back after work and all had found their way inside.

Feral Bees

When I was younger I remember hiking near a small waterfall in the mountains near my home. It's a short hike (but a long drive). I can't be certain exactly how long ago it was. I know for a fact that it was not in the last 12 years. Beyond that I can't be so sure. Most likely it was while I was still in high school or shortly after. So... roughly 20 years ago.

While hiking I stumbled upon a fallen hollow tree and noticed that honey bees were flying in and out of  the hollow. I remember watching it for a few minutes, fascinated by the fact that they were wild bees living in a hollow log. Miles from anywhere. Prior to this (and actually even since) I had never seen a wild colony of bees. My only experience was with the Langstroth hives my dad used to keep. I also didn't know back then that honey bees are not native to this continent.

Well, since taking up beekeeping again last year, I've been wanting to go back and see if I could locate that hollow log and see if there were still bees living in it. The desire became even stronger the more I studied natural beekeeping and the many problems that face the bees today.

Today I finally got my chance. I was worried about the weather. It was not ideal. Cloudy. Raining off and on. I was worried because I could not remember the exact location of the log and was hoping that I could rely on returning forager bees to help me find it. I was also unsure if the log would even still be there and if it was, would it still be suitable to host a colony of bees. My memory is hazy but it seems that the log was rather low to the ground and the hollow would be within easy reach of skunk, raccoon or even a bear (all common in the area). I knew though that if I didn't go today, it would be at least 3 weeks before I could get another chance.

We first hiked into the waterfall. Carrie and Jaden went with me that far. We took advantage of the scenery and took a few photos.

While taking photos, I noticed a dozen or so honey bees drinking from the side of the stream. I was very excited. They are still here! My wife tells me I was like a kid at Christmas.

It's late and I have to get to bed so I'll try to sum it up. I found the bees living in a Cedar tree a hundred feet or more above the waterfall. They are not in the hollow, fallen log like I remember but they are in the same general location. I could not even find the hollow log. I can not tell how big the cavity is inside the tree. There appears to be a split between where the two main branches fork and this is there the entrance is. The tree itself is hanging off the side of a rather small but steep cliff. It took a bit of work going up and around to where I could get to it. I was able to watch them for several minutes and even took some pictures and video. There were many foragers coming in. Many from the direction of the stream. Many had pollen and the pollen was all white. I even saw a drone hanging about the entrance. I was able to get my hand and camera to within a foot of the entrance and they didn't seem to even notice. Pics and video follow.

Notice the split between the branches.

You can see how steep the hill is.

The girls drinking. They're still here!

There's a couple of good looking bee hunters.

Coming and going. (and a drone)

View of tree and surrounding area.

It's time to make a bait hive!

20 Day inspection

Time: 2:00 pm

Weather: sunny - no wind - mid 70s

Did a quick inspection today (mostly just to show the girls off to my sister, Amy). Decided to remove a couple bars to see how they were building their comb. They had done exactly as I had hoped. They had skipped over the half-width bar and built comb directly in the middle of the next bar. They had even started a small comb in the middle of the bar next to that. I didn't pull the bar in the back to see how there were doing there. The second bar had larva, pollen and honey. The third bar was mostly capped brood (very exciting).

I've been reading lots of posts on the biobees.com forum. Many suggested putting 1 inch (or so) strips of foundation into the top bar kerfs for the bees to use as guides for building their comb. Others us popsicle sticks or other strips of wood and coat them with wax. I've cut down a bunch of wooden strips for this purpose but have not had the time to install them.

The red lines represent where the girls had drawn out comb. The green lines represent where I had hoped they would draw out comb (and I was right).

Top Bar Day 5

Time: 10:00 - 11:00 AM

Weather: partly cloudy with a slight breeze - mid 50's.

Well, my top bar hive (Schampel TBH) has been set up and with bees for 5 days now. The queen was still in her cage so it was time to release her. The hive is built with a screened bottom that has a sliding wooden bottom beneath that can open or close from the outside depending on how cold it is. I'm nervous about leaving the bottom wide open when it's still cold at night so it's been mostly closed all week. I've opened it a few times at night to shine my light up inside and see what's going on (ok - I've done it every night - sometimes twice). They've been very active all week as the weather has been nice. I've seen them coming back in with pollen also.

Upon first opening the hive this morning I was surprised to find that some of the top boards were stuck together. I figured the girls had propolized them together and didn't think much about it. But as I slowly pried them apart, it became obvious that the comb had crossed over more than 1 top bar.

I was able to pull out 3 different bars with comb built up (or down) about 5 inches wide and 6 inches long. I was amazed at the amount of comb already produced in only 5 days. Wow! They were filling the cells up with honey and pollen already too.

When I had built the top bars, I cut a groove down the center of each bar about 1/16 inch deep and filled it with bees wax to give the bees a starting point for drawing out their comb. At least that was the idea. Well, they had their own idea. They completely ignored the wax strips and used the edge of the top boards as a guide for starting their comb. This is going to be a problem as the comb is now attached to 2 top boards (actually centered between the 2). I ended up causing the collapse of one of the comb. I wasn't sure what to do with it so I removed it altogether.

In hopes to get them back on track, without destroying all of their hard work, I cut one of my top bars in half to use as a spacer. My top bars are 1 3/8 inches wide. I put the 2 bars with comb attached to one side of the hive and next to the 2 bars, placed the half bar. My thinking is that when the bees move over to build their next comb (if they use the same spacing), they'll end up drawing comb in the center of the next top bar. I'll let them proceed this way for a while and will eventually remove the 2 bars with misplaced comb. We'll see how it works.

The queen is in there and loose now, so I'll be getting back in next week to see if I can find any eggs or larvae and to check to see if they're drawing out their comb where I want it.

Here's a video I captured right be fore I closed her back up.

Here are a couple of videos taken before and after installing the bees.

The Package

Hive activity after the installation.