Catching a Swarm Part 1 

Thanks John for your kind comments. It's a team effort as you can see. :)

Hi Frances Nice to hear from you again too!

I thought so too when I watched to video tonight!

You got that right with the birdsong clues! It was filmed in early May.

They have to get used to it. Monique is a great beekeeper now!

Cool. Our bees were not right on the path but they did get quieter when it got dimmer. It got cold too!

hbrc.ca/faq/ Hi Freddie. Please have a look at our FAQ. You'll see the canvas inner cover discussed there and a link to 'Our Equipment' video where we elaborate on this topic.

She did really well this summer (and did ditch the dark coat)!

Poor Monique is correct. Wearing a mask in 2023 even though she is young, healthy, outside, and with someone she is with all day every day. Yes, poor Monique. She has been brainwashed by her media and government.

She sure is!!!

@@sinisterhipp0 Thanks a lot, I find it so interesting and appreciate you taking the time to educate me.

Thanks SH. Good answer!

@@sinisterhipp0 hello again

The pheromones are on the tree. Might make it harder to move into the nut?

Good question. I wanted to show how you could move the swarm to a nearby location using the tarp. Often the swarm lands somewhere you don't want to locate the hive.

Lots of ways to catch swarms. That's part of the appeal!

Hi Bee Friendly Yes your suggestion may have worked in this case given that the swarm was so low. I was demonstrating a way to collect bees when you can't shake them off or put a collection container underneath. A method that could be useful in other situations. Lots of ways to do any beekeeping task!

He does know what he’s doing. No need for snide remarks.

@@primitivedaisy As I a beekeeper I can assure you, that was not good. I was expecting something much better from him, considering all the good previous videos on the channel. The only time smoke is appropriate to use is when you want to steer the movement of the bees, or mask the pheromones on the branch so that they do not come back to it. No point in smoking the bees when they are still. You may approach the box to the tree/branch and let them go in by themselves. You can encourage the beginning of "the march" by taking scoops of bees with your hand and depositing them in the box. You can spray water or sugar water on them at the very beginning, so that they are less stressed and don't fly as easily. Bees HATE it when you brush them against bark on a tree. You can deposit the box below, next to, up above and steer them with smoke when they are not moving in the direction you want. You can spray sugar water on the frames to make them more attractive. If you explain to a beginner how the bees think and react as a group, they probably will do perfectly fine :) That was my extended "2 cents". Cheers.

Hi all Lots of ways to catch swarms... It was a pretty informal video done on the fly so not our best in terms of production. The method shown worked fine and took five minutes. We didn't notice the bees hating it. We filmed three different swarm scenarios to show a few ways of catching them and all involved brand new beekeepers having the exciting opportunity of catching swarms. Most years we have very few swarms to catch but this was a real swarm year in our area.