1st swarm

[Riverrat]

I was going to start splitting the nuc I over wintered on a 5 on 5 configuration a week or so ago.  The weather had other Ideas as it has been a couple weeks of rain and storms.  Keeping an eye on the hive I knew it was getting to the point of  swarming .  Yesterday I stepped out of the shop just in time to see the swarm issue and land in the bushes about 10 ft away.  I hived them up and they are orientating to the new home today.  The mother hive is a swarm I picked up last year late in the summer.  I do believe I have a good queen.  I couldnt believe the size of the swarm.

[CpnObvious]

That's great!  I can't wait for the day I find a swarm... I just hope they aren't my bees swarming!

[hamptor]

I hope I can reach it when I find it

[LazyBkpr]

That is a pretty nice swarm out of a nuc. Did they leave nay bees behind?   

[Riverrat]

That is a pretty nice swarm out of a nuc. Did they leave nay bees behind?   

They left some behind but the hive is noticeably slower today with traffic

[Riverrat]

After selling out my 80 hives a couple years ago and only keeping a swarm or 2 around I decided to build back to about 10 hives and keep it a hobby this year.  I had the hive mentioned above that I started with.  My intent was to use only bees that I picked up in swarms and splitting.  Basically the challenge of getting to 10 without buying any bees.  I am now up to 3.  I kept some equipment out in the bee yards hoping to attract a swarm. I took a guy out wanting to get into beekeeping to give him a hive to get started.  All hives looked as I had left them empty.  Grabbing a good set up i started to disassemble the hive to load in his truck.  I got the inner cover off that's when they boiled out of the bottom deep and lit me up.  I do believe I threw the common sense check before you look out the window.  Anyhow I am at 3 now and looks like it will be an easy shot to get to 10 this year. 

[Colobee]

I, too, recently hived a large swarm. Because of it's unusual size, I suspect it is a "prime" swarm - the kind with the original mated queen from some hive. This is often described in the literature - "Large (prime) swarms" - tend to be basketball sized and up. Secondary, or after-swarms, are more commonly football/soccer ball sized, to occasionally as small as a softball - these usually have a virgin queen.
 
The one I caught was about the size of a beach ball, and fairly well filled two 10 frame mediums with about half comb/half bare frames. While the swarm was less than 20' from my hives, I haven't been able to find any hatched queen cells or notice any reduced activity among my hives - apparently a gift from some other nearby hive? Another hint - I run small cell frames ( bees are a bit on the small side), and the swarm bees are noticeably larger. It was almost like they were seeking me out - attracted to my Fine" operation... 
 
Good luck to all with catching swarms - instant increase!

[Slowmodem]

Good luck to all with catching swarms - instant increase!

Considering the price of bees now, a swarm is a real value.

[Colobee]

Considering what I just paid for some packages, the swarm I caught was worth ~ $250 (depending on how you value package queens). I'd estimate ~10 lbs of bees, judging from those 3 lb packages. It instantly became my 3rd or 4th strongest hive. It will likely help populate several nucs, come June-July.

[Riverrat]

Picked this swarm up April 24th from one of my hives.  They have drawn out 2 complete deeps and the hive is weighing roughly 75lbs.  I didnt know they was packing it away this good. Kicked them off the feed and added a super today.  We got a good flow on right now.  But with this heat it wont last long