Greg was mowing today and saw what looked like a swarm of bees in one of the oak trees in the apiary. The swarm was very small and it is late in the season-- which is not necessarily a good sign-- but it is good to catch them! A late swarm will most likely not survive through the winter without special care (extra feeding, close monitoring, etc...). We like to use these swarms to combine with other hives that maybe small or weak.
So to catch this swarm, since they were only about 8 ft up, it was easy to climb up, shake them in a bucket, and pour them into their new home-- a nucleus hive. We don't pass up swarms if we can do anything about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment