New Swarm Call

Fantastic!  I was sitting out on the deck enjoying the weather and I got a call from Bernie Andrew.  I'm on the MV Beekeeper's list for wanting swarms  This swarm happened to be in Mendon IL, only 6 miles from my house.  Great!  I jumped up and grabbed my swarm gear.  The heck with the weather.

I asked Avry to ride along, my daughter.  She has never seen the bees like this before, so it was all new to her.    These bees all congregated into a small tree about 5 feet off the ground.   This is call #3 in a week, the first were in a 3rd story apartment building and out of reach, the second (read below) were inside a hallowed out log and we had to cut them out. 

These bees just needed a mist of sugar water so they wouldn't fly around a lot, and a snip of the tree limb.  Bam!  They went in the box.  I grabbed a few stragglers that didn't make the box and sealed it up tight.  Duct tape really can do everything.

Then to my bee yard.  This is hive #7 at my house.  I had the box ready and leveled and I was glad I had thought ahead.  I put in some "borrowed" frames (I was running low) and installed the bees.  These gals were really calm.  They just went right to the frames and box.  I shook the rest in and put the lid on tight.  Next just tap tap tap on the box so the queen can tell the bees where she was located.  They just flew right on in.  Love this swarm!

Thanks for the calls, keep em coming.