Tale of a NaplesBees Apiary swarm chase………
Saturday, October 31,2015, we happened to notice a ball of bees on the back top edge of one of our larger hives. It was a swarm. So we quickly set up a new hive box with frames and sugar syrup in order to see if we could catch it……
- Sweep the ball of bees into a bucket and dump into the new empty hive.
- The bees leave and ball up on an old satellite dish.
- Sweep the ball of bees into a bucket and dump back in the new hive
- The bees leave and ball up on the outside of the new hive (video below starts) and then move over to the hive corner where I first saw them (video below end)
- Sweep the ball of bees into a bucket and dump back into the new hive box
- This time, they leave again and go over to the bee cam and cover the housing.
- Sweep the bees into a bucket and dump back in the new hive box.
- This time, I close up the new hive box entrance and leave them until the next day, hoping that they will get acclimated to the new location.
- Next day, I open the hive entrance, and they instantly boil out and swarm to a high branch in a tree. Out of reach, I leave a nuc box on a ladder, thinking they may find that suitable. I give up as I’ve given it my best shot…. 4 bucket transfers attempts.
- Next day, I see activity at the entrance of the new hive box. If this is the same swarm I had been chasing, then they, for some reason, decided to come back to the new hive box that they originally had been dumped into and left 4 times…… go figure…….
WildFlower Apiary Hive Swarm – October 31, 2015