2017 Bee hive swarm information, history, lessons, successes, etc.

Babs,

Glad to hear you have a plan to eradicate those vicious varroa mites. According to Randy Oliver and many other beeks, the OA towel method is very effective.

If you treat consecutively for three weeks, then all mites inside the brood should be dead too.

At $30 a queen at Wooten's Golden Queens, and only a queen or two, you should be doing just fine. He breeds in Nor Cal so you should have some queens that can fight off the local maladies.

I so much wish I had more time right now. Several of our hives can easily be split, but I need to finish building all the new nucs. I am also really interested in grafting some queens. I hope to try it later, hopefully in the next few weeks.

With that said, we noticed many of the local bee colonies were moved this week. Correspondingly, our swarm capturing went to almost zero!

I re-baited all our swarm traps today anyway...I am still believing for more miracles!

Gosh... MORE miracles?

I have used queens from Wootens quite often, they are only about 10 miles from my house so easy to get. I need to check my hives, maybe Wed.

Latestarter said:

Gosh... MORE miracles?

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Not wanting to sound greedy, but....yup, the more captured swarms the merrier!

BTW, we take much better care of our hives than 99% of most beekeepers...example: new boxes, new frames, new paint, new top covers, sticky screened bottom boards, and vents up top and in the bottom. Diligently applied mite treatments, consistent inspections, brand new mouse guards, scientific based care, and the list goes on and on and on. Can't get much better than this! Our accommodations are rated at or above the 5 star Hilton Hotels... Local bees cannot find a better deal...and that is one reason why they love to leave the Egypt of poorly managed boxes and enter into the promise land of luxury living as we wait on them, giving them the best care of all...

And remember, we welcome bees of all colors and backgrounds...no need to have special papers or anything like that...

And I think word is getting out and spreading in the bee community: Luxury living, free health care, and even free food when in periods of dearth...and they don't even have to pay one cent. Dang, this is really beginning to sound like and look like another unnamed free handouts system I see every day of my life in my locale...

OMG! What have I done? If I am not careful, I will have created an entire bee population of illegal socialist welfare lovin' bees...

Now please remember everyone, we do not talk about politics in this forum...only bees...I am so glad I am not breaking any rules! For a moment there, I was worried....Whew!

babsbag said:

I have used queens from Wootens quite often, they are only about 10 miles from my house so easy to get. I need to check my hives, maybe Wed.

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Sounds like a great plan babs!

Let us know what ya found in your hives!

The word got out that you spoil your bees, that is why all the swarms. I used to have that problem with stray cats when we lived in the city.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty!
Here bee-bee, bee-bee, bee-bee!

Update: We noticed last week most of the local beekeepers have finally moved their hives....

We have captured a grand total of zero hives this last week...

Hmmmm...either the drop off on captured swarms is directly linked to the moving of local hives, or, this may be the end of our swarm season?

Who would venture to make an educated guess?

'Educated' guess...NAH!!!! But I will speculate that the drop off in captures is due to the hives leaving. With the extra vegetation this year from all the rain I would hedge a bet that the swarm season will last longer than in the last 4 years and that it isn't truly over yet.

babsbag said:

'Educated' guess...NAH!!!! But I will speculate that the drop off in captures is due to the hives leaving. With the extra vegetation this year from all the rain I would hedge a bet that the swarm season will last longer than in the last 4 years and that it isn't truly over yet.

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I agree. You caught way too many for it to be from anything but the commercial hives near your place.

I totally agree with both of you. I was capitalizing on local beekeeper's poor beehive management skills! I am super happy to have caught all the swarms because if not me, where would they have gone? Now they will experience top notch care!

When we began our inspections, we were surprised at how healthy and large every queen bee appeared. They were laying eggs like crazy within days, and within weeks, some of the swarms needed another super deep up top.

Well, I am still hoping to catch some more!