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Post by brownrexx on May 25, 2016 10:17:18 GMT -5
I KNEW that this would happen. I walked out to the garage, looked outside and saw that the bees are swarming today and hubby is out of town all day.
I'm a little scared but I am just waiting for them to finish and I will get suited up and go get them.
I'll try to take pics.
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Post by restless on May 25, 2016 11:25:38 GMT -5
Good luck, brownrexx!
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Post by desertwoman on May 25, 2016 11:46:16 GMT -5
If it's any comfort to you, when we had the bee keeper come to take a swarm that landed in our pear tree, he was not suited up. I was impressed. He said I shouldn't be. He said swarming bees are very docile.
Cheering you on!
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Post by brownrexx on May 25, 2016 15:39:53 GMT -5
I will NEVER be able to work with bees without a suit on. I can get close and take pics but work with them - NEVER, NEVER, NEVER. I was pretty scared even inside of the suit but I was more afraid of losing the bees than of being stung and actually it turned out to be less scary than I thought. I had bees buzzing all around me but I just kept telling myself "they can't get through the suit, they can't get through the suit...". I caught them and didn't get stung once.
Here's how it went:
I saw a huge cloud of bees in front of the current hive just flying in circles. The buzzing noise was almost deafening but of course there were thousands of bees in that cloud. I have only ever seen a swarm leaving a hive twice in my life and it is quite impressive. Unfortunately my pic of the cloud of bees did not turn out too well.
I ran to the basement and got my already prepared hive and brought it outside and set it on the back of my gardening buggy.
I watched to see where they went and it was in a pear tree about 30 feet in front of the hive that they came out of.
I waited until the swarm had completely formed a big cluster in the tree and then backed the buggy under the cluster.
I shook the branch and a big pile of bees dropped onto the new hive. If the queen is in the ones that fall the rest of the bees will follow her into the hive and make themselves at home. If she is still on the tree then they will come right back out and re-cluster around her.
I had to get the "bee brush" and brush a big pile of bees off of the tree because they did not fall down with the group but they all seem to be staying in the hive so hopefully the Queen is OK and making herself comfortable. She will never leave the hive again.
Here they are starting to form a cluster on the tree. Notice the ones in the air
Now the cluster is fully formed and they will be sending scouts out to search for a suitable home while the others wait and guard the queen.
I backed my buggy under the cluster and positioned the hive directly under it.
This is after I shook the tree over the new hive
Now we are just waiting until they settle in to their new home. I made them some sugar water to keep them happy and wanting to stay. They could still decide to leave if they don't like their new home.
Hopefully they will all go inside this evening and hubby can suit up and move the whole hive to it's new location.
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Post by wheelgarden1 on May 25, 2016 16:08:07 GMT -5
Absolutely awesome!
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Post by reuben on May 25, 2016 16:40:47 GMT -5
Holy honey, Batwoman Beewoman! That's just crazytown! Good job. Hope it works out for both you and the bees.
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Post by brownrexx on May 25, 2016 17:08:06 GMT -5
Hubby got home and said that I did a good job. He estimated that there were 30,000 bees in that swarm. We added another box on top of the first one because there were so many bees. Normally with new bees you only need one box and then add another one in about 2 weeks.
They will get relocated to a stand made of cement blocks to keep them up off of the ground after they settle down in their new hive. We probably won't move them until tomorrow afternoon. By that time we will know if they are comfortable if they are bringing pollen into their new home.
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Post by restless on May 25, 2016 18:51:26 GMT -5
Yay for brownrexx! Good job! I am grateful for the photos. How fascinating!
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Post by Mumsey on May 25, 2016 19:23:57 GMT -5
Braver than I would ever be! Awesome!
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Post by restless on May 25, 2016 19:30:22 GMT -5
I showed Dude. He thinks it's pretty cool, too, brownrexx!
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Post by davidjp on May 25, 2016 19:34:25 GMT -5
Well done, I did my first swarm last Sunday, luckily for me they announced there presence by congregating at the back door, very civilised of them much smaller than the one you have.
Still quite an experience and congrats
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 25, 2016 19:46:15 GMT -5
Great job, rexx! You knew you could do it, but I'm sure that this happening soon after that other bee "incident" increased the apprehension. Great pics, and info!
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Post by brownrexx on May 25, 2016 20:07:19 GMT -5
davidjp I noticed that our bees were light in color like the one you showed on another posting. I know that at one time we had a hive of Russian bees and another one of Italian bees. Based on the pale color I guess that we have all Italians now. Hubby decided that we should move the hive to it's permanent location tonight just before dark so I had to suit up again and help carry the boxes because they were too heavy for one person to manage. They must have decided that they liked their new home because they were already working and bringing in pollen by late afternoon. Glad all of you enjoyed the photos. I was pretty nervous at first but it really went quite well.I am more than happy to get back to gardening though. As you can probably guess, I have no problems with pollination!
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Post by desertwoman on May 25, 2016 22:17:27 GMT -5
it turned out to be less scary than I thought. I had bees buzzing all around me but I just kept telling myself "they can't get through the suit, they can't get through the suit...". I knew you could do it! I'm so proud of you!!
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Post by ahntjudy on May 25, 2016 23:26:03 GMT -5
Good Job!!! Great pictorial!!
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