Swarm Catch #8 (MASSIVE) 

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks!

That's awesome! Good luck.

Thanks!

Thanks!

@@DuckRiverHoney Happy development to your bees!

Thanks!

It was a biggie. Thanks!

None so far, and we're into the start of our main flow...hopefully they'll settle in and make honey now.

Yeah, they filled up two mediums. I added a third box a few days later.

Wow, that's getting into the serious work category. What's your hive count goal? Definite sideliner territory.

@@DuckRiverHoney Hello, Well due to a car wreck thanks to a drunk driver all this has come. A friend who was just going to get splits from me now has my hives at his Farm. He asked me to mentor him and a crew of 12 and if he could use my hives to go commercial. Well guess what so far 1 million into new equipment and buildings to date this last 3 months you are seeing them grow with the BEES. Yes new honey house set to extract no less then 500 boxs a week and a temp controlled shed that will hold up to 3000 single deep hives and now a grafting room being added to that for next year. Idea is to be at 100+ by winter and close to 500 by winter of next year and triple that the next.

Near Columbia and Dickson.

This one was the 22nd. I know several of my hives swarmed, maybe as many as 5. I've got three that definitely did not, maybe 4 that definitely did not. Probably at least 3-4 that definitely did. I haven't tried to figure it out for sure....I'd rather make decisions based on how tall the hives are at honey harvest.

I use all mediums so everything is interchangeable. It's also less equipment. If you run deeps, you need a few nuc boxes as well, or you have to use divider boards for small colonies. 5 deep frames = about 7.5 medium frames, so I use a single medium with a double frame feeder and 8 frames as my nuc box. I use a medium plus spacer as my swarm traps. So I use mediums 4 ways - swarm trap, nuc box, hive body, honey super. Bulk ordering makes the cost lower. A full medium weighs about 35 lbs less than a full deep, so this is also some future proofing for me being an old beekeeper.

They were so spread out I didn’t think I could shake them into the bucket. And i like to get the box closed up before too many bees get on top of it, to avoid crushing, and to give them some darkness.

They can’t move well if it’s too cold. You do what you have to sometimes. If you could get the ENTIRE swarm by cutting a branch or something you may solve that issue, or if you waited till the weather improved. They’d make it through the rain and cold fine clustered up. Lots of variables, and I won’t say what’s right or wrong here....sounds like what you did was successful, which says a lot.

@@DuckRiverHoney thanks. Hope they stick I got most of them. The homeowner wanted them gone asap. Was gonna call an exterminator if I didn't get them so best I could do

I use a vac and suck em all up i dont leave a bee i can see

Middle Tennessee. Thanks!

I didn’t feel like I needed to.

I see it mostly midday on warm calm sunny days.

@@DuckRiverHoney I have four traps out. They are all on my 2 acre property and all are getting some attention. One is getting well over twenty scouts and has been for at least 7 days. How long after the initial scouting does it typically take for them to move in?

It varies a lot. I had a swarm hanging in a tree 4 days and they were still split on where to go. But 7 days is a long time for sure. At some point they’ll run out of food and have to move. They can also move quick....I’ve heard 15 minutes for some.

@@DuckRiverHoney between 12:00 and 2 most of the time

I’d buy that.

It definitely could. It hasn’t yet. I work full time and have two young kids, so the timing of bee work isn’t always what I want. Swarm catching and swarm trapping are pretty passive and low effort. Plus, in future years I can evaluate genetics to see if some queen lines swarm while others don’t. The main reason is if you double hive population then honey production goes up 2.5X. So big hives are what I want. You don’t get big hives by splitting.