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Author Topic: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.  (Read 13527 times)

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Online iddee

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Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« on: March 25, 2014, 03:15:44 pm »
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Offline Jen

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2014, 03:50:18 pm »
Yes! I have! And I love it! Just magical ~
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Offline tbonekel

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2014, 07:51:16 am »
That's cool. The poster said he had a queen excluder on. I guess that means the excluder was between the bottom board and lower deep? Interesting. What does that do if the bees are trying to supersede?
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Online iddee

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2014, 08:21:25 am »
No supercedure. The hive is checked often. Two excluders. One on top of first box, then one on top second box, with queen in second box.
It's hard to believe, but in Dec. this hive was one box only, and had to be fed.
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“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein

Offline brooksbeefarm

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #4 on: March 26, 2014, 09:21:14 am »
I have seen several hives swarm,the one i remember best is when i seen a hive i thought was being robbed. I walked over to it to get a better look and they started boiling out of the hive and swirling all around me ???, it felt like i was in the middle of a dust devil :o. I didn't have my veil on and i didn't take one hit even from the ones that got caught in my hair ;D. It was a weird pleasant feeling, almost like i was part of it. :D Jack
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Ray

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2014, 10:13:41 am »
I have and it was scary, Alfred Hitchcock SCARY! (If I had been as close as brooksbeefarm, I'd a wet my pants) There were bees everywhere and flying in all directions. They settled in a tree about 70 yards away and I managed to hive them.
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Offline Jen

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2014, 12:25:14 pm »
Brook- ""I didn't have my veil on and i didn't take one hit even from the ones that got caught in my hair . It was a weird pleasant feeling, almost like i was part of it. Jack""

From what I've read and experienced myself three times, when a hive is swarming, the bees are at their most docile. They are loose and confused and all they want to do is land and protect the queen. I am never afraid when in a swarm, they never fly AT me just around me. The hum in the air is sweet and the movement magical.
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Offline apisbees

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2014, 04:44:30 pm »
I have gotten swarms that they were a little aggressive and have taken shots at me.
One I got last year I think they were in the tree for over a day but haven't started to build comb yet. They were wrapped around the trunk and 4 branches so they could not be Jared in to a hive so had to be transfers by the hand full. Once the queen was moved the rest followed on their own.
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Offline Lburou

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2014, 05:14:47 pm »
Maybe watching your hive swarm would be a mesmerizing, but watching my hive swarm brings mixed feelings.  Seeing the swarm in the air and knowing I have little or no control over which direction, and how far they will fly, triggers a few questions in my mind:  Where is the swarm bucket?  Where is the ladder?   :)

I got two of three last year.   :laugh:
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Offline apisbees

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2014, 07:12:04 pm »
You can take steps in getting the swarm to settle quickly rather than watching them fly off and loosing sight of them. Bees do not like flying in the rain and a thunderstorm is one way the bees know rain is on its way. Create that loud cracking sound \ vibration by banging on the metal garbage can or lid with a stick. It will cause the bees to quickly find a place to congregate. The bees in the air and you have a hose with a spray nozzle handy, spray them with water it will drop them to the ground. place a hive near them and they will walk on in.
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Offline brooksbeefarm

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2014, 09:24:54 pm »
Like Apis said,i have stopped swarms by slapping the hood of my truck on two occasions, and the settled on a limb near by. I caught them and took them to another bee yard. Jack
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Online iddee

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2014, 09:28:52 pm »
We always called it drumming. Most call it tanging now-a-days.
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― Shel Silverstein

Offline Perry

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #12 on: March 26, 2014, 09:49:01 pm »
First time I ever watched a swarm, I was working a hive and heard a noise behind me. The bees in the hive behind me were pouring out of the front entrance like somebody was pouring water in the top. I watched them go about 40 yards across an irrigation ditch and I thought that was it, they were gonzo. But as I watched, they circled around a bit and came back and landed in a high-bush blueberry about 10 feet away from where I was standing. (I had 5 hives in there for pollination).
I know that losing bees is completely undesirable, but there is something awe inspiring when you watch them.
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Offline Jen

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #13 on: March 26, 2014, 10:15:26 pm »
Perry- ""I know that losing bees is completely undesirable, but there is something awe inspiring when you watch them.""

     Yes! See? If you can just take a minute or two and just watch, it is something pretty special ~

Lburou-

     Oh! Don't get me wrong here!  :)  I like to watch for a minute or two, and then I turn into the tasmanian devil and forget that I'm running around the back alley with swarm stuff in tow in my jammies and slippers ~   :D
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Online iddee

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #14 on: March 26, 2014, 10:20:15 pm »
Where's the video?   Where's the video?   Where's the video?
 :laugh:    :laugh:    :laugh:
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“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein

Offline Jen

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #15 on: March 26, 2014, 10:28:43 pm »
Iddee!! That's Why I Was Running up and down the alley with all the swarm stuff half dressed! hubby was at his dad's house. No one home to video this escapade of me and my bees... and a ladder... with my bare legs that I haven't shaved all winter  :o  I'm tellin' ya... it was as good as any deer hunting story around the camp fire  ;) :-[
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #16 on: March 26, 2014, 11:18:06 pm »
LOL Jen...

   with my bare legs that I haven't shaved all winter

  And the neighbors terrified because the bees were attacking Sasquatch in their alley!!!    LOL.... sorry Jen.. couldnt help myself there...


   That hive had one deep and five medium boxes on it... but he had the queen excluded to a single box?
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Offline Jen

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #17 on: March 26, 2014, 11:37:02 pm »
Trust... Me... no one came out of their houses  :o
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Online iddee

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #18 on: March 27, 2014, 07:12:48 am »
Yes, two excluders. Don't ask me why. I'll see him today. I'll try to remember to ask him why, or get him to post here. He is a member.
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“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
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Offline Jacobs

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Re: Have you ever watched a hive swarm.
« Reply #19 on: March 27, 2014, 07:03:36 pm »
There was only one excluder.  This was a 5 frame deep nuc Iddee gave me last November.  I put a medium of honey on it when I got home.  They brought in pollen all through the winter and made lots of bees.  I had 6 medium nuc boxes on it as well as the original deep when it got warm enough to put it in a regular hive.  I wanted to convert it to an all medium hive, so I made sure the queen was in the medium nuc boxes and then and hived them.

The deep nuc had 2 full frames of capped brood and 1 frame of eggs, larvae, and capped brood.  I added 5 more frames of honey and put the excluder on with the idea that in 24 days, the worker and any drone brood would have emerged and I could remove the deep and add additional medium supers.  I checkerboarded brood frames in 2 mediums and put an additional medium of drawn, open comb on the top of supers for a total of 1 deep and 5 medium 10 frame supers.  I had an inner cover that has a small upper entrance, and I left that open.  If the queen was going to go with a swarm, she would have to go through the top.  I was not trying to prevent swarming as such;  I was trying to keep the queen from continuing to lay in the deep.

The bees decided to swarm and tried for 2 days in a row.  The video is of the second day.  Even though I am not seeing many drones in my other hives and don't have actual knowledge of any other drone producing hives in the neighborhood, Iddee suggested that I go ahead and split the hive.  I had a friend come over and help.  We found an unmated queen and put her in a nuc with bees brood and food.  We found the fertile queen and put her in another nuc with support and resources and we made 2 other complete medium hives with multiple capped queen cells, food, brood, and bees.  I would love to have a 3 pound package of drones just about now.

I have doubts that the virgin queen will get mated, but the weather seems to be getting better so that maybe the 2 full hives will be able to send new queens on mating flights and find drones.

I don't usually use queen excluders, but will for a specific purpose like this.  One excluder.  Only one excluder.
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