Post by Manda on May 30, 2013 20:03:59 GMT -5
Last year we caught a tiny swarm in July of last year, im talking 100 bees? they were on a sign by a roadside park. Anyways that forced me to quickly buy two full hives with 8 or so boxes. Well the swarm didn't have a queen so they died within 6-7 weeks. This year I didn't really want to cough up $110 for a NUC let alone $220 for two so I decided to wait and hope for a swarm. I expected to have to drive across the county and learn how to catch one and hope that it would be in a reasonablespot. A local beekeeper recommended i try putting lemongrass oil in my hives too as a lure. I sit one hive out a month ago with no luck but last night i realized i had a hornets nest in there so i got that out this morning. Other hive has had some bees scouting around but not much. Then I set up a third hive using an extra Super. This afternoon I got the lemongrass oil and applied it around 2pm. I came inside to facebook I noticed a few scouts around as usual when i came in the house. A hour or so later i started noticing extra flying bugs. Thought it was odd but ignored it. An hour after that I noticed it thicker so finally i sent my 12 yr old and asked her to stand still and see if she could tel what was flying around. She ran back inside to tell me to look at my hive. HONEYBEES! Over a hundred was climbing around. I went to the 3rd hive and found 200+ bees. There were literally over a thousand in the air. The 2nd hive only has about 10 bees lol! not sure whats going on but they were settling in for the night but who knows if its a swarm in and of itself or if they are stragglers... or if they will bring a swarm in tomorrow.
Anyways i am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPPPPPPPPY! FREE BEES!! AND TWO SWARMS!! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!! I couldn't have been any happier even if it was a calf! lol
and yes i know i dont have the right top on.. i wasn't expecting them to swarm so quickly1 i had just found the proper top today.. in a few days i will fix it
Anyways i am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPPPPPPPPY! FREE BEES!! AND TWO SWARMS!! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!! I couldn't have been any happier even if it was a calf! lol
and yes i know i dont have the right top on.. i wasn't expecting them to swarm so quickly1 i had just found the proper top today.. in a few days i will fix it