Deb & Erik get their bees

Deb has been helping me document my experience with bees since nearly the beginning. She came along on my second swarm capture and was wowed by it. She also helped me with hive inspections and honey harvest. Now she's got her urban homestead with greenhouse and chickens. Of course she wanted bees, too!
She and her honey, Erik, had just finished up their beekeeping class with the Backyardhive.com folks when I called them with news of a swarm at the community gardens where a couple of friends have plots. Yay friends! We arranged to meet there at 6 a.m. – Deb and Erik with their brand-new bee jackets and me with my swarm gear.
The bees were clustered on a tree branch about 6 feet off the ground. Because it was early and cool, they were in a nice tight bunch.
The 6-foot ladder we had was a little too tall to hold the box with enough room for branch-shaking, and the 4-footer too short, so Deb opted to hold the box as Erik shook the branch.
And shook it some more.
Things started to go south after Deb set the box down and discovered that some bees had gotten into her sleeves and under her pants cuffs. She started to panic a little (can you blame her?), and got stung a couple of times on her ankle.

She and I walked far enough away that she could get the bees out, while Erik stayed and tried to herd more bees into the box, which he put on the taller ladder. But it wasn't strapped down. You can guess what happened.

When Deb and I got back, there were bees all over the sheets we'd laid out, but still quite a few in the box.
It seemed best to go have breakfast and let the bees sort themselves out. Which they did.

When we returned, the queen was in the box with the bulk of her court.
Erik gently wrapped the box in sheets and carried it to the car.
At home Erik shook the bees into their waiting hive. Now, nearly two weeks later, Deb reports that the bees have a goodly amount of comb built out and are active and happy.

I have video of the whole thing, but it's quite long, so Deb or I will need to edit it down, and I'll let them decide if they want to post it. (To Erik's credit, he did not swear when the box fell. At least not audibly!)

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.

The bees that got away

First the construction workers told me about a swarm around the corner. I went and looked at it, came back to get my gear, and in those few minutes the bees flew away.

Then there were two swarms more than 15 feet up in trees. Too high for me.

Then there was a swarm on a very rainy day when I needed to drive to the airport. Someone else got those bees.

And a swarm that showed up while I was working.

Finally there were these bees:
This very tiny swarm landed at a garden center where I'd left my card two years ago. It was a windy day.
I was disappointed with the size of the cluster, but beggars can't be choosers. Certainly the location was easy. Right at eye level in a potted fruit tree. I spread out a sheet on the ground, tipped the tree over the box and gave it a good shake.
The bees seemed really lethargic, but those that landed on the sheet dutifully marched into the box, so I knew I had the queen.

When I got home, I tipped them into the hive and closed it up. At first all seemed well, but later the Sergeant said the entrance seemed awfully quiet. Then it rained for many days.

When I looked in the hive this morning, they were gone. Argh.

BUT. I got another swarm call tonight, so I'm going to pick it up first thing in the morning. Cross your fingers!



P.S. Yes, I started fiddling with blog layout. I'm not sure I like it, but I can't get back to the old version.

Up on the roof

A co-worker called Saturday and asked me to get some bees off his neighbor's house.
I tracked down Maggie, who needed bees, and off we went.

In hindsight, a bee vacuum would've been a much better option for a swarm like this. The girls were just too spread out in an awkward, high space, and we had no idea where the queen might be.

Watch and learn!

I got a small sting on my finger through the glove, and worse, one on my lip through the veil when I leaned back. I had a fat lip that night, and a fat jaw the next day. Weird! But I'm all right now.

Why do bees swarm?

As I understand it, bees swarm for a couple of reasons. First, it's a means of expanding their population. Second, they may swarm because their living quarters are too cramped. A third phenomenon, which looks like a swarm, is really an absconsion, in which the whole colony leaves a hive it deems unsuitable.

The way it works is like this: Somehow the determination to swarm is reached about three weeks before the fact, usually in early to mid-spring. The workers start preparing several babies to be potential queens. Right before those queens hatch out, the old queen flies out of the hive, taking half the workers with her. They all gorge themselves with honey before they go, as fuel for the journey. (Click on the photo above to see close up how plump those bees are!)

The queen settles on a branch or other surface somewhere not far from the hive. The workers land all around her, forming a cluster in which they're all hanging on each other. They seem angry as they're circling and buzzing, but in fact they're super-mellow because of all the honey and the lack of anything to defend. It is possible to stick your hand into the middle a cluster very slowly and not be stung. (Or, like Ingo, above, you can put the queen in a little cage under your chin and create an awesome beard.)

From the cluster, scouts go out looking for a place to live, then come back and tell the others what they found. When a consensus is reached, they all fly off to their new home. The honey-laden bees start building comb, and the queen immediately begins laying eggs in it. They need to create enough babies ASAP to create enough workers to collect enough nectar and pollen to survive the next winter.

Back at the old hive, the first new queen to hatch out goes around to all the other queen cells and kills them, then flies out of the hive to mate. When she comes back, she starts laying eggs and spends the rest of her life (3-5 years) doing so.

Thanks to Beth for asking the question!

Once more, with feelers

On Saturday, Tom the sprinkler guy arrived to get things running for the summer and said, "Oh, bees! I have a customer who's looking for some. And I might want to get some myself." I gave him my card and Jim called me later in the morning to say, yes, he was looking for a swarm.

A few hours later I got a call from a gal who had already had two swarms in her yard the day before (I sent someone else to get them) – a third swarm had shown up next door! I called Jim back and said, "You want bees? You got bees."
After a quick stop to get some supplies (Jim wasn't quite ready to get back in business), we found this very easy swarm in a lilac bush, only 6 feet off the ground. It was a simple matter for me to hold the the two main branches the bees were clustered on and for Jim to cut those branches. I just lowered the clump into the box, shook the bees off and put the lid on.
With the queen inside, the fanners came out on the front porch and let everyone know. After 20 minutes or so, nearly all the bees had gone into the box.

I'm bummed that I forgot to hit Record on the video camera I'd set up, so I've only got a little footage of the aftermath:

A bunch of neighbors were watching from way, way down the block. We persuaded them to come closer and everyone ooh'd and ah'd. I handed out more swarm cards. With lots of big, old hollow trees in that area, I suspect I'll be back there again.

Brrrrr, bzzzzz, brrrrrrr

Word has gotten around that I'm a bee-friendly gal, so I now am getting several swarm calls a week. Most of them I pass along to others who need bees, but if I have time I go take a look.

These girls swarmed this morning just a block away from me but their timing was bad. The clouds came over and dropped hail and then a steady rain. I could see some dead bees on the outside of the cluster already; they'd never survive the cold night.

Luckily, there was someone at the bee supply store who wanted them. Two guys came over and we just cut the branch, put it in a box and off they went.
This is a drone on my hand. I picked him up from the grass. Notice how large his eyes are! The better to see flying, virgin queens with. Drones' only purpose in life is to mate. Which might sound enviable, except they get kicked out of the hive in the fall and freeze to death. The girls just make new ones in the spring.

Swarm-catching supplies

Having a list of stuff to take on a swarm call can save you a lot of hassles. I wrote this list on top of my swarm-catching box. (The bees pictured here are the ones I caught yesterday.)

• Spray bottle with water
  
• Ladder or stepstool
  
• Clippers/loppers
  
• Headlamp (if the call comes late in the day)
  
• Straps (for securing the box to a ladder or stool, for example)
  
• Masking tape
  
• Headnet or bee suit (even if you don't need them, you may have an observer or helper who would appreciate a little extra protection)
  
• Gloves
  
• Bee pick and/or small plastic dustpan (for scooping bees)
  
• Bee brush
  
• Bedsheets (spread one under where you are working; many bees will fall to the ground, and the sheet will help you avoid stepping on them. When you leave, you can gently and loosely fold the sheet up over the box and put another on top to contain any bees on the outside of the box.)
  
• Camera and tripod
  
• Business cards
  

And this important reminder: Remove your rings!

Even if you are not particularly reactive to bee stings, a well-placed zap to the finger can cause enough swelling to be uncomfortable. And should you react badly, you don't want to have your rings cut off your fingers.

Where's Kitt?

Well, life happens and you get all distracted and, next thing you know, a lot of time has gone by.

I think about blogging, but then I feel like I need to do something substantive to make up for all the not-blogging, and so I just post something fast on Facebook instead. But I limit my Facebook friends to people I know in person, which means everyone else loses out.

I am going to try to do more here. I do enjoy blogging; I just need to get back in shape, and maybe not be so ambitious with every post.

Lucy and Jackson are doing fine, as you can see in the photo above. They're sitting in front of a bee tree I found at the dog park.

Speaking of: My hive survived the winter and I plan to do a harvest soon. Swarm season also has begun. I missed a call yesterday, but today I just ran across this swarm while walking the dogs. Funny how that keeps happening to me.
I went home and got my gear and put those girls in the box. I knew someone would want them. Sure enough, there was a guy at To Bee Or Not To Bee buying his first hive, so Vicki sent him over and the bees went home with him.
Here they are on the doorstep of the box after I put the lid on. They've got their little butts in the air, fanning out the scent that says, "Hey, everyone! The queen's in here!" (Click to the photo to see it larger.)

I'm here, too!

Hiving a bee swarm

I picked up that swarm yesterday not knowing who would take it – but I was pretty sure someone would want it. I finally got a call back from S., whose last batch of bees didn't make it. She was delighted to get new ones.
Her hive is tucked away next to her garage. Her niece was "helping" but disappeared once the bees started flying.

The bees were a lot less freaked out in this case, having been messed with less to get them into the box, and having had some time to recluster. Here's the video:

It's instructive for me to watch these videos again, to learn what not to do. In this case, I realized that I really need to shut up with the unsolicited advice.

But the bees made it in just fine and by the time I left, the ones outside were steadily making their way in.
Welcome home, bees!

Another day, another swarm capture

So today I got a call about a swarm right in the neighborhood. Can you spot the bees in this picture?
The homeowners got my number from the little garden center where I'd left my Got Bees? cards. They are avid gardeners and wanted to see the bees go to a good home instead of being sprayed with pesticide by a panicky neighbor.
The bees have swarmed in this yard before, from a nearby bee tree. (A squirrel reportedly has been seen putting its paw in a hole up there to get dessert.)

My friend Deb came by to take pictures, so I hope to have some good ones to show you later. Meanwhile, I've got video again. If you watch it, you'll hear a lot of chitchat going on. I had quite the crowd watching.

So I put down a sheet under the tree, put the box under the branches, and gave them a good shake. Most of the bees went into the box. After a while, those that were flying realized the queen was in there and made their way into the box, too. I may have left behind a couple dozen, if that.
The box came home in my car, wrapped in sheets. Now it's sitting out there unwrappped, with a fan on it. I had to tape up the edges of the lid because bees were escaping that way.
I'm just waiting for someone from the swarm list to call me and come get them!

Capturing a honey bee swarm

Today was the big day. Yesterday afternoon I got a call from Mary of Bee Moving Day fame. One of her hives was swarming. She called me again after dark to say the bees were still there and clumped up in an accessible spot.
I got there at 7 this morning. Earlier probably would've been better, as the sun was up and the bees starting to fly a little.
But they were pretty compact in a few separate bundles. I spritzed them with a little sugar water, but that just disturbed them. I think that may work better with bees that are "dry," i.e. several days out of the hive and not full of honey.

So the plan was to gently lower them into the box using the bee pick. Not a very effective plan, that. I should have just given the branch a good shake, as is the usual practice. You can watch a long, boring and poorly edited video of the process if you've got nothing better to do.
In hindsight, I should've just left the box up on the ladder with the lid on and let the bees all go into it on their own. But I wasn't sure I had the queen. So I put the box into a larger one that Mary had. I had a sheet on the ground that I shook into it and then draped over.
Then I was sure I had the queen, as there were bees putting their butts in the air and fanning around the entrance. They were signaling to the other bees, "Hey! The queen's in here!"
Once I had most of the bees in box, I put another sheet over the whole thing, put it in my car and drove home with the bee suit on.
It's a little surprising how many people just go whizzing by in their cars when you're in full bee regalia, though a truck full of public works employees did pause to gawk.
I'm sure I got some funny looks from other drivers on the way home, too. I backed into my garage and carried the box out to the hive. Picked up the interior box and shook it in, and the outer box, too. Oy, what a cloud! I was really worried the queen hadn't made it into the hive. I put the top bars back on and the bees were heavily clumped around the entrance to the hive and underneath, on the screen.
But hours later, they were almost all inside the hive, with just a couple dozen hovering in front on orientation flights, learning the look of their new home.
Wow, that was a pretty crazy morning! I learned a lot. It was nice to have Mary there offering support. I'm adding sheets to my list of swarm-catching supplies, and also a reminder to remove your rings. Yes, I got stung on my left hand and now I have a slightly fat finger (and yes, I got the ring off). I put on gloves after that.

So now it's up to the bees to build out their comb and start filling it with brood, pollen and honey. Go, bees!

Alluring

Jim is the guy I called yesterday to get the playground swarm, since I was busy at work. He sent me some pictures that illustrate the wisdom of delegating.
The bees had moved to a tree across the street, about 15 feet up. Jim, his wife and his buddy almost missed it, then had to come up with some means of getting up there. They actually found a woman cleaning out her garage who was getting rid of a ladder! Kids, don't try this at home.
They got the bees down and boxed up without any mishaps, and the bees are now ensconced in Jim's top-bar hive.

Meanwhile, I ordered a pheromone lure to put in my hive, on the off chance that a passing swarm could just decide to install itself. It's been known to happen!
The lure is little vial of liquid that smells amazingly like the lemongrass oil I've already put in the hive. But I'm assured it's different to a bee, and even more attractive.
I went out in the dark of night and put it in the hive. Here, it's hung from a nail over the entrance. But I changed my mind later and hung it from a string instead, so I can pull it out easily without disturbing the bees.
Cross your fingers!

Missed opportunities

Oy. Yesterday a friend's hive swarmed while I was on the phone with her. But we were both on our way to work and had no time to capture them. They were gone by evening.

This afternoon I got a call from an elementary school about a swarm on the playground. I considered going after work, in the dark, to try to find them, but common sense won out and I called someone else to go get them. Just as well; the cluster had moved to a tree branch about 20 feet off the ground and it took three people maneuvering with a pickup and ladder to get them.

Still at work, late, I got another call: big swarm on the ground at such-and-so address. Could I go at 5 a.m. to scoop them up? Ordinarily I'd say yes, but I've got an early meeting.

And my weekend is going to be similarly booked up. The hive is ready to go, and I hung a pheromone lure in it tonight. Maybe the bees will come to me.