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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Blair Christian <blair.christian AT gmail.com>
  • To: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>, "durham-county-beekeepers AT googlegroups.com" <durham-county-beekeepers AT googlegroups.com>
  • Subject: [ocba] Swarm catching gear...
  • Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:31:32 -0400

Hi All,

It's swarm catching time so I thought I'd share my gear to help out anybody
new
https://plus.google.com/photos/106022773068627809372/albums/5860766260679003249?authkey=CKfjnfSQ7Ii6YA
Not pictured: a little bow saw sometimes comes in handy.


Some stats from last year:
Swarm calls I answered: ~10
Actual swarms retrieved: ~5
Number that made it to last summer: 3
Number that overwintered: 0
Weights (lbs): 2.5, 2.5, 2.3, 4.3, 5
Number of times I used a ladder: 7


I had a number of "mini-swarms"-- less than 1 lb of bees + 1 queen,
which were not big enough to hive and I did various things with those
queens, mostly gave them away.
https://plus.google.com/photos/106022773068627809372/albums/5795590192521436657
I think they came from Dave (?) Frupnicht? He has maybe 20 hives
about a mile from me, and might have some Russian bees.

My hiving plans: I put them in an appropriate sized space (2.5 lbs or
less bees into a 5 frame nuc; 2.5+ lbs of bees into a deep). I try to
put a frame of mixed brood in, and at least a frame of drawn comb for
the queen to lay, and plenty of undrawn comb. I put on a full top
feeder and don't go near them for a week. I didn't have any abscond
with that strategy last year. Some will go into supersedure almost
immediately though.

Game on,
Blair




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