7/13/2024
Introduction
Last night, we picked up the swarm box from our second Boone County location. It was probably the easiest one we’ve done. We were able to park the car close to the box, which really helps. I held up the box and Linda undid the strap – it actually cooperated. I carried it to the car and away we went. Once we got home, we rolled the trap back to the quilt box.
Getting setup
This morning, after breakfast and much coffee, we headed down to the apiary. It was still and cool out which helps a lot. I went to the barn, grabbed my bee bag and went down to the bench.
While at the bench, I got the smoker going. The smoker is used to help calm down, or at least distract the bees when I’m working with them.
Linda thought I needed a new smoker video, so here it is.
With the smoker going, it was time to open up the swarm trap.
Opening the swarm trap
After giving the bees a little time, it was time to take the lid off the swarm trap.
You often see ants in hive boxes, but not this many. They totally covered the bottom of the lid and the top of the frames. This took a minute to clean up.
Moving the bees
After I was ant free and most were off the top of the frames it was time to move the bees into the new hive box.
This was when I realized, I forgot to add a chain to hold up the lid. Oops.
Moving the bees
This picture made me laugh.
I guess the bees didn’t appreciate the two inch starter strip we had put on the frame. Trying to use it here is a real piece of engineering. Unfortunately the piece fell off during the move.
After the frames are moved, there are still bees in the swarm trap. This group of bees left in the trap seemed a little different than normal. They were circling around a central point.
I went in for a closer look and saw the queen! Tried to get a picture, but she was too quick. I then tried to catch her in a queen clip, but again too fast
I realized that if I kept this up, I was going to hurt the queen. I decided the next option was to brush the bees into box
After most of the bees were brushed into the box, I shook most of the remaining ones in. The ones left made their way into the box in about an hour. Pretty typical.
Thoughts
What I noticed the most was that this colony had a lot of brood, but not much honey. I’ll need to keep an eye on this and will likely start using supplemental sugar water in a week or so.
This colony puts us at six which completes the goal set last year.
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