🐝 We couldn't believe when we walked into the backyard right at the very moment one of our honeybee hives started to swarm in front of our eyes!
We have caught quite a few bee swarms, but have never been there to actually witness the swarm leaving - it was fascinating!!! And we actually got the whole thing on video.
We followed the bee swarm as it left our hive and migrated to the cherry orchard next door. With 15,000 honey bees flying around us, we followed it to a tree where they settled and then we tried a few different ways to collect them.
#bees #beekeeping #beeswarm #honeybee #farming #backyardfarming
Catching a bee swarm is never the same - depending on where the bees land, catching a swarm is different every time. Sometimes you scoop a bee swarm into a new hive, sometimes you vacuum them up, sometimes you bang the branch if the bees swarm in a tree, and they all fall in one big clump into the new hive.
This was one swarm capture for the books though...
00:35 When we first noticed the swarm of bees leaving our hive
00:42 up close view of the bee swarm in the air
01:33 Following the bee swarm as it looks for a place to settle
02:47 Bee swarm stops in its tracks at the road
03:25 Close up #2 of the bee swarm in the orchard, just to get an idea of how many honeybees are in the air
04:51 Finding the tree the Queen bee decided to land on, and where the bees will form a cluster around her
05:37 What is a bee swarm? Explaining the bee swarm to our neighbour and why there isn't much risk of being stung when bees are swarming
10:33 Getting the swarm kit together so we can try to successfully recover our bees
11:30 How we choose which frames to give the bees to set them up for success in their new hive home
13:13 What is a dearth, and when does dearth happen?
14:44 Trying to recover the swarm using the "scoop" method- scooping the bees by hand into the new hive we put together
15:17 Trying the "shake" method by trying to shake the bee swarm into the new hive
16:04 How to tell if you have successfully captured the Queen bee
17:38 How bees signal to other bees that the Queen is in the hive (pheromone fanning, SUPER INTERESTING!) (Fun fact- these bees are all female!!)
18:36 Returning a few hours later to see if the bees all went into the new hive
20:36 Moving the new honey bee colony to their new home (technically, their old home) in our backyard
Beekeeping is something that is super important to us as backyard farmers. It's a hobby, but we also get amazing beeswax from our bees as well as real, unfiltered honey, and the bees are great for garden pollinators. We have quite a few beekeeping articles on the website- www.TheFarmersCupboard.com so please check it out!
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Thanks so much!! 💕
10 сен 2024
