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Swarm of bees


moondoggy
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That's great.

I have caught two swarms in the past week.One a very good top swarm and the other a smaller swarm covering about 3 frames.Both of these swarms were caught in catcher hives set up on local farms.They both had old drawn out frames in them and some lemongrass oil sprayed inside. My dad was working at a trailer in his yard about 3 weeks ago and a swarm came over the yard and descended on an empty hive along side his occupied hives,he then caught one in an apple tree 2 days later about 40 miles from home.We still have about 10 Catcher hives out so hopeful for some more swarms this summer.None of the 4 swarms had marked queens in them so not sure where they have come from.No other bee keepers within about 3 miles of us.

Some of you may remember the issues I had with most of one of ny hives being killed by a farmer spraying seeds.There was enough bees surviving to try and keep them going so after a lot of attempts we eventually got them to draw out a queen cell from frames of day old eggs from Dads hive.I now have a laying queen in that hive so not all is not lost although since their experience they have changed from a lovely quiet colony to being pretty cross.

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41 minutes ago, islandgun said:

Great stuff, how does this work, is that your hive ? do the bees just arrive are they enticed [bait] were they someone else's.  

It’s a spare hive that I had, so I just set it up with one frame of old comb and three or four frames of new foundation. A couple of drops of lemongrass oil adds to the attraction.

They are not my bees (well, they are now 😁). Scout bees have been showing quite a bit of interest over the last couple of weeks. One of the main rolls a beekeeper has to perform is swarm control, ie. trying to dissuade your bees from swarming. So, whoever these bees used to belong to was not quite on the ball and subsequently, has lost half of his colony. This means his honey harvest will suffer this year as his remaining bees have to build up that colony again.

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I have an empty hive in work which had maybe 30 or 40 bees at it anytime I look at it.There is no honey in it just old frames with bits of old comb,not even full frames just something to give off a scent to bees that might fine interesting. I am hoping that these are scout bees and I might get a swarm there sometime. The big swarm I got were in an old national hive that had only been on place for about 5 days yet the evening I had it in place the farmer said there were bees scouting it out.

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27 minutes ago, Windswept said:

Swarm from your own hives or from further afield? It's been a bit of a strange year and I'm trying my best to stop some of my colonies from swarming.

Someone else’s.

It has been a bad year for bees swarming. People are putting it down to the bad weather which has affected beekeeper’s regularity of hive inspections, thus missing the signs of imminent swarming.

Always worth setting up a bait hive, you may even catch one of your own swarms if you are lucky. 👍

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5 minutes ago, moondoggy said:

It’s a spare hive that I had, so I just set it up with one frame of old comb and three or four frames of new foundation. A couple of drops of lemongrass oil adds to the attraction.

They are not my bees (well, they are now 😁). Scout bees have been showing quite a bit of interest over the last couple of weeks. One of the main rolls a beekeeper has to perform is swarm control, ie. trying to dissuade your bees from swarming. So, whoever these bees used to belong to was not quite on the ball and subsequently, has lost half of his colony. This means his honey harvest will suffer this year as his remaining bees have to build up that colony again.

 cheers, as far as i know there are no beekeepers anywhere locally, I wonder if it would be worthwhile setting up a hive and hoping some might call in.  

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2 minutes ago, gmm243 said:

I have an empty hive in work which had maybe 30 or 40 bees at it anytime I look at it.There is no honey in it just old frames with bits of old comb,not even full frames just something to give off a scent to bees that might fine interesting. I am hoping that these are scout bees and I might get a swarm there sometime. The big swarm I got were in an old national hive that had only been on place for about 5 days yet the evening I had it in place the farmer said there were bees scouting it out.

Bees can scout a hive for weeks then disappear all of a sudden. They have either chosen another location or the beekeeper has been successful in his swarm control.

Watching a swarm arrive is one of the most awesome sights you can see. There is very little danger as swarming bees are usually very placid. However, most people would find it quite a scary experience. If you are lucky enough to experience a swarm, don’t be afraid, just watch calmly. If you panic and flap around, you will upset the bees and they are likely to attack. I was about ten minutes or twelve feet away when I filmed this swarm with no bee suit on.

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3 minutes ago, islandgun said:

 cheers, as far as i know there are no beekeepers anywhere locally, I wonder if it would be worthwhile setting up a hive and hoping some might call in.  

Worth a go, bees can travel a fair distance. A cheaper option is to set up a nucleus box which is essentially, a smaller hive of about five frames. Then, if you are lucky, you just transfer the bees to a full size hive.

I once caught a swarm in a cardboard box that I had stored some old frames of comb in.

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We have a friend who has just taken up bee keeping and she came down to watch dad putting the swarm into the hive. She was amazed how calm and gentle they were and then Dad even started showing off by putting his bare hand into the marching swarm to show that they are usually very gentle when swarming.I have caught a few swarms hanging in bushes when I had no suit readily available and didn't get stung but I do prefer to have the suit in case i manage to drop the swarm or do something stupid.

10 minutes ago, moondoggy said:

Worth a go, bees can travel a fair distance. A cheaper option is to set up a nucleus box which is essentially, a smaller hive of about five frames. Then, if you are lucky, you just transfer the bees to a full size hive.

I once caught a swarm in a cardboard box that I had stored some old frames of comb in.

I agree.You never know where bees might be living and they could swarm.They could be in a tree or a derelict house and as they are unmanaged they will swarm at some stage.If you have an empty hive out especially if there is old comb and an inviting smell you stand a good chance of getting a swarm.

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28 minutes ago, moondoggy said:

Someone else’s.

It has been a bad year for bees swarming. People are putting it down to the bad weather which has affected beekeeper’s regularity of hive inspections, thus missing the signs of imminent swarming.

Always worth setting up a bait hive, you may even catch one of your own swarms if you are lucky. 👍

Down here it's been a difficult year. Last Autumn was wet, windier, much colder and longer than normal; then we had a dry spring; then cold windy and wet. Our bees ate their winter stores so were fed fondant but as soon as spring arrived some colonies started swarm preps. Unfortunately the spring flow seemed to be condensed into a couple of weeks so I've got colonies with low stores but still wanting to swarm. Little wonder a novice beekeeper having problems.

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It's something I've never experienced myself, we don't see much in the way of honeybees in my garden although we see hundreds of big hairy bumble bees, lovely placid creatures that I do all I can to help them on their way if they get stuck inside the house. As well as try and stop a rather brainless dog from trying to eat them.

As soon as the bumbles move off later in the season we will be plagued by natures terrorists...wasps, hundreds of them seem to come from the bushes or the rotten fence owned by next door neighbour

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15 hours ago, moondoggy said:

Bees can scout a hive for weeks then disappear all of a sudden. They have either chosen another location or the beekeeper has been successful in his swarm control.

Watching a swarm arrive is one of the most awesome sights you can see. There is very little danger as swarming bees are usually very placid. However, most people would find it quite a scary experience. If you are lucky enough to experience a swarm, don’t be afraid, just watch calmly. If you panic and flap around, you will upset the bees and they are likely to attack. I was about ten minutes or twelve feet away when I filmed this swarm with no bee suit on.

I've seen two swarms now, I nearly cycled through the second one! That might not have gone well.

Some great information on bees, thanks guys.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bees that swarm in trees and other such exposed objects are only temporary. A colony of honey bees cannot survive outside. They will move on usually after a few hours or the following day. If for any reason they don’t move on, they will die.

However, if you know of a beekeeper in your area, give them a ring and they will collect them and make good use of them.

You should have a local beekeepers association who will have a list of beekeepers willing to collect them for free.

These will then either be added to the beekeeper’s own apiary, or they will go to a beginner who is just starting out.

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9 minutes ago, moondoggy said:

Bees that swarm in trees and other such exposed objects are only temporary. A colony of honey bees cannot survive outside. They will move on usually after a few hours or the following day. If for any reason they don’t move on, they will die.

However, if you know of a beekeeper in your area, give them a ring and they will collect them and make good use of them.

You should have a local beekeepers association who will have a list of beekeepers willing to collect them for free.

These will then either be added to the beekeeper’s own apiary, or they will go to a beginner who is just starting out.

Looked up beekeepers and the nearest one is 40 odd miles away. The bees have been here all day so as you say, will be gone by the time anyone got here. I'm not particularly concerned about them but it's right next to the wife's polytunnel. Thanks for the advice though.

Edited by walshie
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21 minutes ago, walshie said:

Looked up beekeepers and the nearest one is 40 odd miles away. The bees have been here all day so as you say, will be gone by the time anyone got here. I'm not particularly concerned about them but it's right next to the wife's polytunnel. Thanks for the advice though.

They will not usually harm you. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone. Swarming bees are usually placid.

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