Post date: Apr 07, 2015 5:44:18 PM
Post date: Apr 07, 2015 5:44:18 PM
When it's April and my phone rings showing the caller ID as an unknown number I know what that means. It's almost always a swarm call. I answered and the man on the other end began explaining his situation. Sure enough the description matched a classic honeybee swarm. But his name sounded familiar. So before I ended the call I asked him if he attends Fellowship Greenville. Sure enough! We go to the same church!
I had just taken my belt off to change into work clothes for an afternoon of hard labor on the back forty. But now I've got a good excuse to procrastinate on the back breaking work! Belt went back on and I was out the door. My wife actually knew them better than I did so she and the boys came along too for this swarm catch. We showed up and enjoyed some conversation while I got my setup ready to shake the bees into. These bees were nice and calm and nobody felt threatened. I got in position for the critical maneuver. They wanted to video this so I did the countdown and shook the bees right onto my setup.
They immediately began fanning and running into the dark recesses of my hive setup. Textbook swarm catch. Within 10 minutes they were all in the hive and the foraging activity proceeded immediately. I came back around 8pm to collect the hive and drive it back to my apiary. The colony looks strong and I saw no evidence of disease or parasites. I always enjoy getting a new set of feral genetics to observe in my apiary. Will they be gentle, mega honey producers or feisty producers of heavy propolis? Will they grow to 12 boxes high like one of my others last year or stay a more typical five or six boxes high? We shall see. It's always fun getting a swarm and meeting new people. But now I know it's just as fun to catch a swarm with friends!