For Marty😉

[Johnsfolly]

[BilletHead]

3 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

                      Yes thank you bees. Boy I have given even more homes this year. I need to update. Been a crazy swarm season.

[jdmidwest]

Only had the one hive swarm here, and it moved on after a week of skunks bothering it at farm.  2 out of 3 splits queened themselves and I have 5 hives now.

[BilletHead]

22 minutes ago, jdmidwest said:

Only had the one hive swarm here, and it moved on after a week of skunks bothering it at farm.  2 out of 3 splits queened themselves and I have 5 hives now.

              Would you believe we are up to 15?

[jdmidwest]

12 hours ago, BilletHead said:

              Would you believe we are up to 15?

You are an obsessive collector when you lock on to something....

[MOPanfisher]

My neighbor had a swam.on a tree limb and a week or so later I had a swarm come buzzing through while I was walking across the yard.  Hope they all found a good home.

[BilletHead]

8 minutes ago, jdmidwest said:

You are an obsessive collector when you lock on to something....

            I kind of am JD. It was totally nuts this season. Had no idea. Pat and I hand caught four swarms out of our hives that were within reach. Had swarm traps out here around our hives. Put two hives over at moms' place. Baited them like swarm traps. Had a swarm move in one. That was a first for us. I know it happens and has happened to you. I had a friend in Weableau built two hives and he needed swarms. This year he caught his own and an extra for me. Then my outlying traps started catching swarms. Then another new to me thing happened. The mother tree that has had a feral colony swarmed and went 45 foot up. Giant swarm. Boy I would have liked to have that. 24 hours later I seen scouts looking at swarm traps in yard and then it happened they took flight up, out over the swarm trap and like a tornado tail right down into my trap. Got to see it happen. Since all my hives were full, I took a single deep Langsdorf box and fixed it up. Put that swarm into it. About that time Pat said Hey we should start pulling down outlying swarm traps. We tried one day but found some of those occupied. So, my friend Tim built two more layens hives and I did one more also.  Total Pat and I caught 15 swarms. We know have 15 hives filled including the ones that made it through winter and three lost late last summer. Tim came over and took three swarms' home and he has one trap he will use as a resource hive to help a slower hive. I will end up with two resource traps full to do the same.  I am tired of shuffling traps and going after dark shutting them up and bringing them home. I still have one to bring home that I caught in a tree stand close to the house. I took them three miles away and will bring them home to place where I need them.  All I was shooting for was 10 to 12 as a goal. 

[jdmidwest]

I am at 5 today, moving one to farm this morning.  Caught the one swarm early at farm, moved off next week.  Reducer had been pulled out like skunks were pestering it.

Made 3 early splits, 2 queened, 1 did not.  Shook it out and it combined with others.  1 going like gangbusters, added another super.  Other 2 slow, need a new queen.

[BilletHead]

9 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

I am at 5 today, moving one to farm this morning.  Caught the one swarm early at farm, moved off next week.  Reducer had been pulled out like skunks were pestering it.

Made 3 early splits, 2 queened, 1 did not.  Shook it out and it combined with others.  1 going like gangbusters, added another super.  Other 2 slow, need a new queen.

        Remember the OAF stickers @Phil Lilley had made and distributed to the members a few years back? Some of us put on our boats and outbound motors and I have seen some on vehicles. Well I completed the 15th hive a few days ago. Pat painted it. It's a Bee billboard. The different ways we paint the hives the colonies we put in them helps the bees recognize their home. Let the bees spread the word about the OAF forums.😆 It's going to be the buzz in the apiary.

   Well today was the day I transferred the bees from the swarm trap into the new hive. Did not use any smoke just moved slowly and put them in the same order I pulled them out. Six frames were in the trap. In just over two weeks each frame had over halfway drawn in comb. Five of those frames had brood capped and uncapped on each side. Amazing IMO. 

     I got to see the queen on one of those frames. Here is one of those frames and the brood . I know any other beekeepers on here like JD will like it. 

   Also got into ten other layens hives today and had to add more frames to all but one that hadn't filled all I had given out last check.  All the rain we have got this spring has helped the nectar flow. Last two summers drought was hard on the bees.