Got my first swarm of the season. We're having a very early spring and swarm season is well underway. Lots of swarming. This is my 3rd call this week, but the first one I could actually take. These were some good looking bees. Very eager to work. And in the 4 hours they were in the box they already started to put wax on the underside of the lid.
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| It felt like about 4 pounds of bees |
That bush they were on was very thorny and it took a bite out of my hand. The neighbor that called the swarm hotline told me someone else was planning to light a fire and douse the bees with a hose. Ugh! Fortunately smarter heads prevailed and they called in a beekeeper.
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| Labeled appropriately of course |
Unfortunately, these bees were collected near a very agricultural area. Which means they probably came from a farmer's hive. I could also tell that they weren't a "wild" swarm since I found no drones among them. Why would this be a bad thing? Because there's a good chance they may be dependent on chemical treatments for survival. And I don't do that. So it should be interesting to see if they can survive the winter. I'll take mite counts on them this summer and see how they look.
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