This weekend was a busy one, swarm-wise. I was monkeying around in the garden when I noticed a swarm out of one of my hives (dang it!) hanging on a rhubarb leaf. I quickly saw the queen and placed the swarm, leaf and all, into an empty hive. I waited around 5 minutes or so and watched as the queen casually walked out the door and flew back to the rhubarb patch. I did this same routine 3 more times before it finally took (I think!). I have never seen a swarm so stubborn! Anyhow, I finished with them and headed home, planning to relax. The postal sorting center in Charleston called and reported that they had a swarm on a pole in front of the employee entrance. I can’t bear to let a swarm go so I packed up a hive box and headed into the city. The picture above is of the post office swarm. It was pretty small (like the rhubarb swarm) but I have too many bees in some other hives so I will try to balance them out. This is the wrong time of year for swarms to do well through the winter but I may be able to baby them through. We’ll see…
Eeeek! I usually stay far far away from it.
p/s: We didn’t get to shoot last weekend. We went to the shooting range with our friend who is a member and his entry card was expired and there wasn’t anyone there to let us in. 🙁
Next time I guess…
Too bad on the shooting…I am sure you will get a chance soon!
Bees are pretty easy going when in a swarm (though you still shouldn’t touch them). I think one of my favorite things about beekeeping is collecting swarms. It’s a great feeling to watch them march into the new hive.
We love fresh honey – especially on just out of the oven bread, but I’m chicken round bees, so I’ll have to content myself with buying honey locally rather than raising it ourselves. Might have something to do with I’m allergic to them also…
I am thrilled to sell folks my honey so I am glad that you seek out local honey. I pretty much jump at the chance to talk about bees anytime someone even sort of asks. Be prepared for that if you ever talk directly to the beekeeper!
Fascinating! I never knew you had to put the queen in the hive more than once. Basically, I never knew anything about bees!
Ha! Typically you don’t have to put the queen in the hive more than once. But, if she doesn’t stay for whatever reason, the rest of the bees probably won’t either. Come to think of it, I don’t know if I have ever had to do that before. The queen always just stays for me. I have caught quite a number of swarms and never had the problem…