Monday, June 20, 2011

Swarming again!

Garrett called me at work this afternoon around 3:30pm. The bees were swarming again, this time around the little pine tree. When I got home at 7pm I looked for them in the tree and did not see them, thought they were already gone. Then when I was looking at the yard from inside the house a few minutes later I noticed there were bees mildly circling around the far side of the pine tree. I climbed up inside the tree and there they were, very mellow, all in a cluster. I got the extension ladder and the big cardboard box and the pruners and the masking tape and Garrett to hold the box, put on my gear and climbed up the ladder. I had to cut in 4 or 5 spots to get the entire cluster loose but it lifted right out without knocking too many bees loose. Garrett snapped a picture with his cell phone. I felt like I was holding a large fish I had caught!
I know it looks like a giant pinecone! 
It must be a secondary swarm from the new package hive (Oceanic815). I placed a sheet of newspaper on top of the weak, queenless hive's (Black Rock's - the winter split from The Others) brood chamber, and placed the swarm on top with an empty brood box with new frames in it. The bees that were left flying also found their way in. I noticed the front of Oceanic815's hive had a gathering of bees fanning (what they do to call other bees back to the hive) so this made me sure it was that hive that had swarmed. In my inspection yesterday I saw a few empty queen cells, so they probably have an extra queen or 2. Maybe they will swarm again? I can't imagine there would be enough bees left for much of a swarm. I was surprised how big this one was!

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