Lady calls yesterday 5-11-12 says she has a honey bee swarm in a tree at her front door. Said they were about 15 feet high when I asked the question how high. We finish up what we were doing at that bee yard go back home to load up the equipment I felt we needed. The vac set up, hoses, the Mutla ladder that is a 10 foot step ladder or a 24 foot extntion ladder. Now I'm not a short person or a really tall fellow at 6'1".
When I get there I see a cluster of bees about 10 pounds worth out on a tree limb nearly to the tip. I ask if I can prune a few branches under it so I can see what I'm doing better. Lady says I can cut away all I need to, So another piece of equpiment is
my extention pole pruner, as some I just could not reach with the normal loppers I carry so I had to work around the leaves that kept trying to clog the vac up. Since this swarm was really about 20 feet up it was impossiable for me to reach even if I could have stood on the very top rung of the ladder. Lucky I use a old scotts garden cultvator to pull stuff from the front of the truck to the rear where I can reach it. I removed the handle from the cultvator and taped the vac hose to it so I could reach the swarm, just barely.
Take the adjustable painters pole that will reach 24 feet.
Also since I was up on nearly the last rung of the ladder holding on to the nearst branch for support I decided that my
climbing/deer stand harness should also go with about 50' of rope strong enough to hold my fat --- so I don't fall.
Any way we got them in the hive, Kare had said they had found the 6 deeps of honey in the truck when she came back with the bottle of water I asked for. I was shocked to see hundreds of bees in the truck when we took the hive to load up after we loaded all the other gear up and closed the topper door we had another hundred or so circleing the windows I had opened for ventalation with screens.
Lots of woods in the area, I tell the lady she had a bee tree in there some place.
She then tells me the story of the swarming honey bees. She was out on their pond in a little row boat catching some fish for supper when a swarm comes over her head kind of scareing her so she went ashore. She said that swarm milled about over the pond for a bit then flew off into the woods south west of the house before they totaly disapeared her comes the second swarm that landed in her front door tree.
when I got the the swarm collection bee yard I open up the back of the truck so the hunderds of bees could get out and we could remove the swarm to its stand. Of the 5 swarms we had collected so far this year I feel they will make their home with one of them.
Pictures when I can get time.
Al
Adding to the list of equipment list swarm collecting.
