Quick Swarm

After church today, I got a call from Clarence. One of his grand daughters, Catherine, was walking in his backyard and saw a swarm in his youngest apple tree. I thought I had taken care of the risk of a swarm when I split the hive and added a super. Evidently the bees didn't agree.

So I dropped everything and went to Clarence's. Fortunately, the swarm was located on several smaller branches of the tree, easily within reach. They were heavy enough to have bent the branches, so the swarm wasn't a small one. But then, I'm not that exerienced with swarms to know if they are all about the same size. Clarence took his loppers and cut the branches. He actually had to do it twice because there was a sizable swarm still left on a branch that wasn't cut the first time.

Before I left to go over to Charence's place, I had to rescue some hive parts. This is where I should have been a bit more diligent in taking care of things last year when the moths took out the hives in my yard. I was just upset and, assuming that I would not need them again, I left the base and brood box and telescoping cover in the yard. I had new foundation on frames that were in the garage. This is not the way to start a hive, but it was the best I could do on short notice. Fortunately, I had a small super that was drawn out so the bees will have a place to store honey when they start foraging. I plan on returning tomorrow and swapping out some brood frames from other hives to give the queen a place to start laying eggs (other than in the supers).

Of course, I'm not totally sure the queen was with the rest of the bees when I shook the branch into the hive, but I presume she was. They seemed content to have a hive to be in.

So, now I have three hives. I had already planned to go in tomorrow to check them out. I hear the nectar flow is very good. I hope I have enough supers to supply them. Doug has offered to help out.

The only other comment I want to make was that it must be very humid outside. I came back home totally drenched from the half hour of work.