j3707
Green Thumb
Posts: 306
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:11 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest, Zone 8, 48" annual rainfall, dry summers.

Any Bee Swarms / Honeybees

Just saw my first bee swarm today, impressive!

We had just finished cutting/cleaning up some felled trees. My neighbor gave me a call and wondered if I had stirred up any bees. I hadn't, but she said she saw a big swarm. I looked out toward her place as we were on the phone and saw a cloud of 'em...very cool. They were about 250 feet away and I could hear them buzzing when I stepped out onto my porch. I walked over and the neighbor and I stood there for a while and admired. The bees settled in on the trunk of a young doug fir. When I came back a few hours later they were gone. Would have been interesting to see where they decided to nest.

Anyone else see a swarm this spring? I guess having a swarm means our local honey bee population is healthy.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

We checked our hives last month and the bees were building queen and drone cells and we were getting an early honey flow. it is swarm season now. We had an empty brood box from a hive that died a few months ago so we put it on a hive with a lot of bees to give them room to grow. We hope to be able to split the hive later. In the meantime we have continued to check the hives. One hive replaced their queen and we have been monitoring and alerting people to call someone in case they see a swarm. We have boxes being prepared to move them into.

We even have enough honey to do a harvest probably later this month.

j3707
Green Thumb
Posts: 306
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:11 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest, Zone 8, 48" annual rainfall, dry summers.

Do you collect wild swarms or just the ones that start from your hives?



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