Mailing list for the Person County Beekeepers Association, Roxboro, NC

[Samantha Gasson <gassonstirrup AT gmail.com>]

I've got a swarm that's too high to reach even with a ladder.  I'd like to get them if at all possible....any suggestions?

Thanks

Samantha

gassonstirrup AT gmail.com

On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 12:01 PM, <person_county_beekeepers_association-request AT lists.ibiblio.org> wrote:

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Today's Topics:

   1. Celebrating my first swarm! (donnasteen AT yahoo.com)
   2. Re: Celebrating my first swarm! (Randall Austin)
   3. Pics are up from the Field Day (Inge Kautzmann)


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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:56:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: donnasteen AT yahoo.com
Subject: [PCBA] Celebrating my first swarm!
To: PCBA List Serve
        <person_county_beekeepers_association AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID:
        <1367276179.74580.YahooMailNeo AT web125404.mail.ne1.yahoo.com">1367276179.74580.YahooMailNeo AT web125404.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Caught my first swarm today. Stoked!


Happened to be outside and noticed a huge cloud of bees in the air.? Went to get prepared but when I returned not a bee in sight anywhere!? Walked our property looking, but didn't see anything.? But on my way to tell my husband who was working in the woods, I passed by my ornamental cherry tree and heard bees--although not very loud.? But with no blooms this time of year I was suspicious.? Sure enough--at the "top" of the tree there was the swarm!? My dear husband got the extension ladder and somehow secured it near the swarm even with no large branches to hold it!!? He went up, trimmed away small branches, but realized his loppers were too small to cut the branch with the swarm--and besides it was a long way down to maneuver a branch of bees! So I got an large, empty cardboard box handed it up to him and told him to shake the branch of bees into the box.? He did but not without 3 stings.? He handed me the box, I shook them into my 8-frame
 medium super--since I use two 8-frame supers for 1 hive body.? Then my husband noticed the small protruding branch still had a cluster of bees.? Since I feared the queen might be still in the tree, I wanted that cluster.? Claude said I could climb the ladder--it was safe for me!? So I did, shook them into the box, handed it to him to shake onto the hive.? Other than not putting on the inner cover--all is well.? I've given them sugar water and closed all but a small entrance--to encourage them to "set up housekeeping" first.? I didn't put them where my hive that died had been, but chose a new place.? When I have lifted the outer cover to look lots of bees are on the underside of the cover and on the tops of the frames.? However bees are coming and going at the entrance.?


Was thinking to peek tomorrow to see if they have gone down into the frames so I can put the inner cover on.? If not, wondering if I should shake or smoke them down so I can put on the inner cover?


Any suggestions?


I know this isn't exciting to old timers, but I just had to share!
Donna Steen
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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:27:53 -0400
From: Randall Austin <s.randall.austin AT gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PCBA] Celebrating my first swarm!
To: donnasteen AT yahoo.com
Cc: PCBA List Serve
        <person_county_beekeepers_association AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <517F01F9.3020404 AT gmail.com">517F01F9.3020404 AT gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hurray, Donna! We should get some buttons, like merit badges, to bestow
on members when they have milestone events like this.

Don't worry about the inner cover. It isn't required anyway. I
definitely wouldn't distress the bees solely out of concern for not
having it in place. I would wait at least a week before doing any sort
of invasive action.

Others may have different thoughts.

Randall Austin


On 4/29/2013 6:56 PM, donnasteen AT yahoo.com wrote:
> Caught my first swarm today. Stoked!
>
> Happened to be outside and noticed a huge cloud of bees in the air.
> Went to get prepared but when I returned not a bee in sight anywhere!
> Walked our property looking, but didn't see anything.  But on my way
> to tell my husband who was working in the woods, I passed by my
> ornamental cherry tree and heard bees--although not very loud.  But
> with no blooms this time of year I was suspicious. Sure enough--at the
> "top" of the tree there was the swarm!  My dear husband got the
> extension ladder and somehow secured it near the swarm even with no
> large branches to hold it!!  He went up, trimmed away small branches,
> but realized his loppers were too small to cut the branch with the
> swarm--and besides it was a long way down to maneuver a branch of
> bees! So I got an large, empty cardboard box handed it up to him and
> told him to shake the branch of bees into the box.  He did but not
> without 3 stings.  He handed me the box, I shook them into my 8-frame
> medium super--since I use two 8-frame supers for 1 hive body.  Then my
> husband noticed the small protruding branch still had a cluster of
> bees.  Since I feared the queen might be still in the tree, I wanted
> that cluster.  Claude said I could climb the ladder--it was safe for
> me!  So I did, shook them into the box, handed it to him to shake onto
> the hive.  Other than not putting on the inner cover--all is well.
> I've given them sugar water and closed all but a small entrance--to
> encourage them to "set up housekeeping" first.  I didn't put them
> where my hive that died had been, but chose a new place.  When I have
> lifted the outer cover to look lots of bees are on the underside of
> the cover and on the tops of the frames.  However bees are coming and
> going at the entrance.
>
> Was thinking to peek tomorrow to see if they have gone down into the
> frames so I can put the inner cover on.  If not, wondering if I should
> shake or smoke them down so I can put on the inner cover?
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> I know this isn't exciting to old timers, but I just had to share!
> Donna Steen
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Person_County_Beekeepers_Association mailing list
> Person_County_Beekeepers_Association AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/person_county_beekeepers_association

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Message: 3
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:52:39 -0400
From: Inge Kautzmann <ibk AT imageray.net>
Subject: [PCBA] Pics are up from the Field Day
To: PCBA <person_county_beekeepers_association AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <CDA3F367.30B6C%ibk AT imageray.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hello All,

I have finally posted some photos from the bee school field day we held
earlier this month. They include a great series of photos on how to do a
sugar shake test for Varroa (thanks to the photographer Geneva Green).

Here?s the link:
http://www.personcountybeekeepers.org/events/pcba-bee-school-was-a-great-suc
cess/

-Inge

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End of Person_County_Beekeepers_Association Digest, Vol 26, Issue 12
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--
Samantha and Scott
Bull City Farm
www.bullcityfarm.com
http://www.facebook.com/BullCityFarm