Wednesday, May 18, 2011

These bees better stick around

At 6:30 a.m. it was still dark enough under this juniper that I needed a flash to illuminate the swarm. It was also a little chilly. Easy-peasy! I thought.
Now, 18 hours later and after reviewing my video, I think there were really two swarms in this little tree. One by the trunk and one over on the left, by the wall. Weird, huh?
After unsuccessfully shaking the central cluster, I discovered the ones on the left, and I thought the queen had moved up there. I shook that bunch, too. Again, no queen.
Frustrated, and running out of time, I left the box there, with a warning sign. Then I went to the dentist, because I'm a glutton for punishment.
When I came back a couple hours later, I got that end cluster in the box. But the bees in the middle wanted nothing to do with it. I finally just left them there and took the bees I had home.

Here's a short video of the bees going in the box:


And here's the box being shaken into the hive at home.
Stick around, bees! It's a nice place you've got there.

2 comments:

  1. I got my first bee sting this weekend and felt so, so bad for harming the bee :(

    I would have felt bad even if I hadn't been a reader of yours but you've increased my bee awareness and concern about bee populations by a million-fold (I am prone to hyperbole).

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  2. Thanks, Steph! That's encouraging. I'm sorry you got stung. Sometimes it just happens.

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