It rained last night and rained hard. Don’t know how the bees managed to stay together…but they did. They are in the same leafy tree. Guess they are smarter than I gave them credit for.
It’s 9:30 am…sun is shinning on the swarm.
I checked the hive stand at 3:30 am and no ants. Then I started thinking about the little hive catcher. It has 5 frames in it. I had some comb in the fridge and thought that if I melted it and put fresh wax on the bars that a scout might find it attractive and pass the word on to the Queen.
They didn’t make a move all day…just scouts.
3.22.13
I set up a super with frames…didn’t have a top or bottom so improvised. Trying to give them ever chance I can.
My friend, Debbie, called and I told her about my temporary set up and she said George had a hive I could have…I jumped in the car and headed to their house. Had to take the 29 Gazelle…
Jim was painting the truck.
The hive needed cleaning. The bees had left. I got right to work scraping the old wax off and using a torch to sear all the corners and any place hive beetles might lay. Once I had them clean I set it in place of the temporary hive. Thought for sure with all the nice fresh smell and 2 frames of pollen they would move right in.
It was down to 40* last night…I don’t think they’ll hang out for another day.
I have been watching this swarm for days…hardly daring to walk away for a few minutes.
Jim and I were busy in the shop…both working on hive frames…suddenly we were getting lots of bee company…he went out to the tree…they were gone…and they didn’t move into any of the hives.
I’ll leave the empty hives set up…March is swarm season…maybe someone will move in or we can catch a swarm.
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