Move it ., then put grass into the entrance to hold the emerging bees back. they will then re-locate and all will be well after the grass wilts and lets the bees out.
Move it ., then put grass into the entrance to hold the emerging bees back. they will then re-locate and all will be well after the grass wilts and lets the bees out.
Excellent I bow to your superior knowledgeOriginally Posted by GRIZZLY
Don't normally start till early May but this year's a little different. This one is actually yesterday's news...
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Lol!!
Moved. Grass at entrance just to be sure.
Wish this sun would come out.
DR.
Delusion and denial are the two key components of how most beekeepers deal with swarming.
The two you hear most often are (1) I found a huge swarm in my garden but it didn't come from any of my hives and (2) That hive could not have swarmed. Look how many bees are in it.
I had someone ring me up last year who had a swarm hanging from a branch in her garden and she was offering it to one of the beginners.
She had been through her hive and had not seen the queen and it had sealed queen cells but still refused to believe that her bees had swarmed.
Funny you should quote that Jon but I actually witnessed a swarm fly across my garden towards and settle in my home apairy site, if I had not seen it arrive I would definately though it came from one of my hives. I have found unidentifiable swarms before and now believe that it is the smell of a large number of hives or flying bees in the area that attracts passing swarms. I do use home made swarm lures in bait hives at all my sites so that might be a contributory factor in attracting swarms into the area.
Swarms usually settle no more than a couple of hundred yards from the hive they emerge from so you must have a beekeeper very close by.
Not if they are on the move and have already travelled some distance
That's not how Tom Seeley sees it. I have seen his lecture a couple of times on Honeybee democracy, how a new nest site is chosen.
The swarm settles near where it emerges then the scouts go out to find possible nest sites. This could take a couple of days.
The scouts which find the best sites dance more vigorously on the comb when they return and they are eventually whittled down to one. At this stage the scouts lead the swarm directly into the new home. No pit stops involved.
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