Saturday, April 17, 2010

#3



well you cant count your chickens before their hatched, same thing goes for swarms - but if i get this one home , we will be well along at re-establishing the apiary i gave up when we moved to diamond springs.

this swarm thought it wanted to live in serrano. a rather posh, ritzy, way too expensive for my income place to live - and its behind gates, which makes it extra special. well the serrano folks dont take kindly to bees trying to take up residence in their neighborhood. this is a second swarm i got a call from in this area. thats ok, their loss is my gain.


it was another good sized swarm, not as big as folsom's but i will take it. about 3 feet off the ground on a small oak tree. a few snips of some limbs, a few squirts of sugar water and 'BAM' right onto the ground.


you guessed it, trajectory calcs were off again.


the bees survived, i pulled out with only one minor sting and if the bees stay in the hive when i go back to pick them up, we will put this in the win column. my goal is 5 hives - i am buying a nuc from sac beekeeping supply and hope to get 4 swarms - only one left to fill my quota. after that - mr. bird in natomas, swarm #5 has your name written all over it.

4 comments:

  1. Garry,

    We pulled out a single frame last night and harvested about 5 lbs. of pure, fresh, wonderful honey without the use of a separator. We did it the old fashioned way (wire mesh).

    I've got a big jar of honey for you if perhaps we move up to the #4 slot (but you get just as much at #5 -- cause the way you're going? You're going to hit #5 by next weekend).

    This means we'd better get the other nine frames cleaned out because they are just as heavy with capped honey.

    Do you prefer comb honey or pure?

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  2. well i thankyou for your offer - but you may want to save some of that for the new bees so they dont have to work so hard. but if you are so inclined, i prefer it pure.

    ge

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  3. Dude, Gary- you are CRAZY. I don't think I would go anywhere near a swarm of bee's. In fact I'm POSITIVE I wouldn't.

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  4. carri - it kinda grows on you, very rarely do i have issues w/ swarms. they call me the bee whisperer :)

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