Possible swarm trap capture soon

Michael W. Smith · #1 06/07/12, 09:38 PM

This afternoon my sister calls me. "I just got home and there are honey bees flying around all over our house. What do I do?" I asked if they were all in one place or flying around. "Flying around." I told her it sounded like a swarm was coming to land on her house and I would come over.

They have an older house that they have remodeled the inside and added on, however the outside nothing has been done to it, so there are cracks, crevices, and holes all over. As I went there I thought it possible that a swarm was maybe moving in, not just checking it out.

I get there, and see probably 100 honey bees flying around all over the house. But they were mostly concentrating on the one side - the side where the block wall from the basement comes up and meets the house sill - blocks still exposed. I quickly went home, grabbed a hive, frames and foundation, bottom board, inner lid, outer lid, and lemon grass oil and quickly got back.

I set the hive up on the porch right beside the wall where most of the bees were looking. We sprayed the wall of the house to discourage further investigation of the wall of the house and they moved over to the hive and started looking there. At times there would 50 or so bees investigating, coming in and out and flying around. Other times it would be down to 15.

I did see a little bit of "fighting" where one bee would come to land and get "attacked" by other bees. Looked like guarding behavior, so thinking possibly there is anohter swarm looking for a new home, tonight I took another hive over.

Before dark it was all quiet. No bees at all. But I'll bet tomorrow they will be searching again. Hopefully with two hives sitting there - one with one hive body, and the other with two hive bodies, they will determine one of them is a suitable home and move in!

AverageJo · #2 06/08/12, 09:24 AM

Can't wait to hear what happens. What did you spray the house with to discourage them from moving in?

That would be great if you have two new hives!! LOL

Michael W. Smith · #3 06/11/12, 01:25 PM

As of yesterday, I was still waiting. Bees were still checking out both hives, but the 2nd story hive seemed to hold the most interest. Just before dark lastnight, I put in a drawn frame of comb in the bottom hive body. I noticed there were maybe 15 bees that decided to "camp out" for the night inside too.

I went at lunchtime today, and there was alot of activity. Probably 30 bees could be seen all the time, with alot of entering and exiting. The single story hive has a one or two checking it out every so often.

The more I watched, I noticed they weren't flying around the hive checking it out - all the activity was at the front and I even saw a few bees just setting there fanning.

Could it be? I opened up the outer cover, and in the inner cover hole is a whole group of bees looking back at me. SUCCESS - sometime this morning they must have moved in.

This is my first swarm trap capture and it sure is exciting! I'll let them get settled in for a few days and take them home to their new permanent home.

AverageJo · #4 06/11/12, 08:45 PM

Yea!!!!! That's wonderful. Did you put a drawn frame in the small hive as well? Wonder what happened with the other fighting bees....

Michael W. Smith · #5 06/11/12, 09:44 PM

No, I only had one drawn frames to spare so put it in the "duplex" hive! There were one or two bees every now and then looking at the other hive, but no real activity.

I got into the hive tonight as I had only put 5 frames in the top hive and didn't want the swarm to decide to hang from the inner cover and start building comb. Well, I lifted the inner cover and OH MY!!

A 2 - 3# cluster of bees hanging off the inner cover starting to build come just as I expected. Then, the 5 frames in the top hive were FILLED with bees, and the lower hive body was FULL of bees as well. Must have been a HUGE swarm!

I'll let them settle in and move them in a few days.

AverageJo - we sprayed the side of the house with water from a hose. They had been interested where the block basement wall met the sill plate of the house - all kinds of cracks and crevices to go into. So, we kept watering down the wall so it kept the bees away from investigating it, and they moved over to the hive and noticed it.

TxMex · #6 06/11/12, 11:08 PM

Congratulations! Sounds like a huge swarm.