March SWARM...Who Knew?

Swarm Hunter! 

The swarm after the swarm...the ones we didn't catch until Sunday.  

Last Saturday we had an early swarm.  Fortunately we were home and Dave was willing to get up in a tree to do the dirty work.  While it seems like work to him, it's nothing but fun for me.  I love a good swarm and all the excitement that comes with thousands of bees in the yard trying to find a suitable place to set up a temporary place to hang out. Once we caught the swarm we set them up in another box so we are back up to two hives and that's a good thing! 

When we opened the hive that remained there were plenty of bees left behind and an over abundance of brood.  The queen had been working hard but from the looks of it ran out of space to lay eggs.  

The swarm is dumped from a large sugar lined bucket at the base of a new hive on a white sheet.  For some reason that white sheet makes them march right up and into the hive.  Who knew???

Two queen cups side by side in the old hive.  That's a good indication that the bees were preparing for the swarm so the bees left behind would have a new queen to keep the hive running smoothly.