Beekeeping > Swarms, Cut Outs, Trap Outs and Bee Trees

July Swarm

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LazyBkpr:


   I have been in Maine, but I have not been without bees.
   My buddies bees decided to swarm while we were having a rum and coke and walking through his bee yard. He panicked... I laughed at him. He got a little pouty. I convinced him to stand there in the middle of the swarm with me. Wide eyed and a little pale, he stood looking around and said.....  wow!
   Yep, a new initiate to the wonder of a bee swarm!
  Now, to the hard part....   They clustered in a tree about 10 feet up.   He had his son gather ladder, box, bucket, etc...  Once they were well settled and I had set up the new hive to accept them, I laughed at the bee suit offered and climbed the ladder, and shook them into the bucket.
    I had abpout 10 stings by the time I was on the ground. I dumped them in the hive, put the lid on, and walked away, having about 40 stings by then....  walked into the cornfield about 40 yards away, and I know I took another 20 or so stings getting there.
   I have NEVER seen such aggressive bees while swarming...
   He said they stayed in the box and they were nice as pie to work with...  While I am glad they stayed and all the stings were worth it, I have to wonder WHY they were so angry?

    Scraped all the stingers out.. two hours later I threw up, Twice... then I was fine, and went back to Rum and Coke....
   Yeah, he laughed so hard he cried. My wife laughed, HIS wife laughed, the other spectators laughed...  they all had a great time..  Sometimes entertaining everyone is painful! But, that IS the story of my life!

Bakersdozen:
Well that's an interesting story.  I hope we have some opinions posted regarding the nasty attitudes.

neillsayers:
Really enjoyed the story, though I did wince a bit for your stings. :)

riverbee:
scott, good to hear from you and have missed you!

i have never experienced collecting a swarm that became aggressive or receiving stings while collecting them.  perhaps they were aggressive based on why they swarmed? or environment? genetics? 

i have retrieved some swarms that became snarky AFTER i collected them and hived them. couple years ago, took a huge swarm off some grapevines in a vineyard. no problems, some of the scouts coming back in to the vines were a little annoyed, but overall, no problems. hived them, and wow, they were hard to work, but queen laid awesome, and honey production was great.  little buggers absconded in the fall, and have no clue why. 

not sure why these swarming bees were aggressive?

maybe it was the rum and coke............ :D :D :laugh:

Wandering Man:

--- Quote from: LazyBkpr on August 22, 2018, 09:19:04 am ---

   I have been in Maine, but I have not been without bees.
   My buddies bees decided to swarm while we were having a rum and coke and walking through his bee yard. He panicked... I laughed at him. He got a little pouty. I convinced him to stand there in the middle of the swarm with me. Wide eyed and a little pale, he stood looking around and said.....  wow!
   
...
    Scraped all the stingers out.. two hours later I threw up, Twice... then I was fine, and went back to Rum and Coke....
   

--- End quote ---

There's the problem.  I bet you never offered them any rum and coke.

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