cool pics of my backyard bee swarm!

queenlives

queenlives

Legendary Member
Joined
10 April 2000
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Silicon Valley
2 weeks ago i had a swarm pass through the backyard and take up overnight residence in a redwood tree outside my home office window. very cool.

last weekend BOTH of my hives swarmed - 1 on friday afternoon, 1 on saturday afternoon (bees often swarm in the heat of the day). the 1st was from my small colony (named "fuzzy") and the 2nd was from "freddie-ray", a large colony of >50k bees that came to be when ray davies robbed freddie mercury, then merged in to freddie-ray. the 1st swarm spent friday night on a branch ~30' up a 40' fir tree. swarm #2 formed @ ~10' on the same side of the same fir tree.

swarm #1 was up too high to deal with, but swarm #2 was w/in reach so a friend and i suited up and retrieved them last sunday morning. rather than post small pics here, i've posted some larger format shots @ the url below that i set up a year ago to show primers a vid of doug and i @ lunch.

i haven't had time to post all of the pics i took, but these are a good start... remember to CLICK THE PIC to see more complete details. i'll update with a few more pics over the next day or two.
hal

http://notnsxprime.blogspot.com
 
Thanks for the latest buzz on the bees Hal. Very interesting information. I like that info about the box, Cool.:biggrin:
 
Please pardon my ignorance since I am originally a city kid whose only interaction with bees was getting stung at summer camp.

What is it that causes them to swarm like that and is there something about your house that caused/enticed the swarm to have a sleepover? And what is the purpose/benefit of getting them into the box?
 
Dtrigg said:
Thanks for the latest buzz on the bees Hal. Very interesting information. I like that info about the box, Cool.:biggrin:
Click to expand...
riveting stuff, eh, doug? ;) (ok, you know me: i never imagined i'd keep bees but confess i find them pretty interesting - it's a suh-weet hobby ;)
 
Thank you for sharing, queenlives. Looks like you live in a pretty place.

About the queen, and the box: how did you get her in the box? Or did you? You say the other bees will fan her scent so bees come and join her.
 
RSO 34 said:
Please pardon my ignorance since I am originally a city kid whose only interaction with bees was getting stung at summer camp.

What is it that causes them to swarm like that and is there something about your house that caused/enticed the swarm to have a sleepover? And what is the purpose/benefit of getting them into the box?
Click to expand...
the only pardon required here is for my terrible photo skills, bob :)

bees swarm for many reasons, but this time of year is considered "swarm season" due to spring / warm weather. after (largely) being restricted to the hive due to winter weather conditions, most healthy hives are heavily populated with brood / emerging young bees and if they've determined they are over-populated, some portion of the hive will decide to leave to find new digs. in preparation for that, they'll make at least one, but often numerous, queens and wait for her to emerge. although two queens *can* exist in a hive (reportedly, up to 30% of hives have two queens), typically they don't so either the reigning queen or the newcomers and her followers pack up and leave.

beeks w/"seasoned" hives may well find themselves the prospective home of choice for swarming bees due to the scent of the existing hives and their colonies: sweet-smelling things, including honey in existing hives, attract honey bees and the brood comb in a seasoned hive also has an attractive scent to swarming bees. my beek mentor has lost 4 of his 8 hives this year due to swarms, but he's captured 10+ swarms... a key thing you learn in beekeeping is *they're bees* and they do what they want. (in my experience they are, however, more predictable than teenagers)

in a perfect world, boxing a swarm allows you to capture their queen and since they'll follow her *anywhere*, once the queen is in the box, they'll march right in behind her. once boxed, the swarm can be re-hived in to your hive of choice - sometimes a brand new hive, fresh foundation, etc, sometimes an existing-but-empty hive with used foundation / comb / honey and sometimes you'll combine the swarm with an existing colony in their hive - this is done by removing the outer / inner covers and placing a couple of sheets of newspaper on top of the brood box / bees (essentially creating a newspaper ceiling), poking a few tiny holes in the paper, then placing a fresh box ("super") on that, inserting foundation / frames in that super, then placing the captured swarm in the new super and replacing the covers. the two colonies exchange scents and nectar / honey through the paper and in short order, chew their way through to become one big happy colony. except the queen... one of them usually dies, swarms or says "ok, you can have the bottom floors, but the top floors are mine."

again, bob, i apologize for my photos :(
 
Kyras said:
Thank you for sharing, queenlives. Looks like you live in a pretty place.

About the queen, and the box: how did you get her in the box? Or did you? You say the other bees will fan her scent so bees come and join her.
Click to expand...
hi patricia,

thx for the kind words - as ken or josh can tell you, we're fairly "rural" at our place and put a strong emphasis on creating a good ecosystem. (we typically make 30-50 cases of jams'n'jellies and liqueurs for our friends from our fruit trees... which is actually how i came to be a beek.)

as for getting the queen in the box, my pal held the box under the swarm while i climbed a ladder and shook the heck out of the branch / swarm. when you do this, ~95% of the swarm will fall with a big "whump" in to the box, the queen along with the rest of the colony. i did a quick inspection of the remaining swarm on the branch and did not find the queen, but did see a large ball of bees in the corner of the box, so assumed she made it in and they were attending her... i should have inspected that ball'o'bees to confirm the queen's presence. as i watched the bees in the box form up and begin fanning, it seemed she was with them.

i'll post a few more pics up them in the hive and at its entrance later today.
 
queenlives said:
hi patricia,

thx for the kind words - as ken or josh can tell you, we're fairly "rural" at our place and put a strong emphasis on creating a good ecosystem. (we typically make 30-50 cases of jams'n'jellies and liqueurs for our friends from our fruit trees... which is actually how i came to be a beek.)

...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the bee lesson. :smile: I'm looking forward to more photos.

Off Topic: Silicon Valley? I don't know how much area that encompasses but I think I've been there when I took my son and daughter to Dave and Busters, in San Jose, when they had their winter break from college. My daughter lives in Vacaville right now, but she'll be graduating UC Davis in June. I'd love to live in a more rural setting, than I do now. I was in a small town of <10,000 people for 22 years (Acton, CA), but now live on the edge of Orange County in so Cal. Been here 2 years and it's cool, but not where I want to spend the rest of my life.
 
Kyras said:
Thanks for the bee lesson. :smile: I'm looking forward to more photos.

Off Topic: Silicon Valley? I don't know how much area that encompasses but I think I've been there when I took my son and daughter to Dave and Busters, in San Jose, when they had their winter break from college. My daughter lives in Vacaville right now, but she'll be graduating UC Davis in June. I'd love to live in a more rural setting, than I do now. I was in a small town of <10,000 people for 22 years (Acton, CA), but now live on the edge of Orange County in so Cal. Been here 2 years and it's cool, but not where I want to spend the rest of my life.
Click to expand...

First, to stay on topic, here's an interesting story about the Beekeeping ban in Santa Monica:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/l...+|+Local+News)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Now as for your threadjack - I grew up in OC, lived all around LA, but I live in San Jose now. I like where I am, but I would really prefer to have more open space and less congestion.

Currently, I'm looking at places in the Santa Cruz/Los Gatos mountains (around 95033).. Seems you can still find some multi-acre sites up there for under 1M (though there are plenty over that price too!).

It feels a bit rural, but is still within commuting distance to silicon valley, or the beach! If you find the right spot, you can even get views of Silicon Valley/SF Bay on one side, and Monterey Bay on the other!

-Josh
 
Joshs said:
First, to stay on topic, here's an interesting story about the Beekeeping ban in Santa Monica:-Josh
Click to expand...
josh,

thx for the link - nyc recently decriminalized beekeeping in the city... i hope others do, as well.

yep - acreage is what you need, my man! and bees, did i mention you need bees, too?!

patricia: what josh said!
 
Joshs said:
Now as for your threadjack - I grew up in OC, lived all around LA, but I live in San Jose now. I like where I am, but I would really prefer to have more open space and less congestion.

Currently, I'm looking at places in the Santa Cruz/Los Gatos mountains (around 95033).. Seems you can still find some multi-acre sites up there for under 1M (though there are plenty over that price too!).

It feels a bit rural, but is still within commuting distance to silicon valley, or the beach! If you find the right spot, you can even get views of Silicon Valley/SF Bay on one side, and Monterey Bay on the other!

-Josh
Click to expand...

Sounds interesting. Thank you for the info, Josh. :smile:
 
heySkippy said:
Very cool!

Now, buy a good camera and take a couple lessons. :)

Actually, I didn't think the pics were bad at all.
Click to expand...
glad you like the info. as for pics / cameras, it's usually the photographer. ahem. in my (humble) defense, i **was** manhandling the camera w/beek gloves while schlepping bees, smoker, frames, box, etc, around. AND my camera seems to be hiccuping in the auto-focus / shutter release / flash dept so i may take it in for servicing "just in case".

or maybe i'll just re-read the manual ;)

i'm heading out to mow the back lawn and inspect the hives before tomorrow's rain - cover me, i'm going in.
 
got a call from a non-beekeeper friend a few minutes ago: a swarm of bees has shown up @ his place today and he's wondering if i'd like them... buahahahaha - free honey :)

heading up tomorrow morning and i'll take some (hopefully better quality) pics of what i find.
 
Thanks for the pic Hal,

I am going to forward them to my wife. She will pass out just from seeing pics of the big swarm!!:tongue:
 
NSXLuvr said:
Thanks for the pic Hal,

I am going to forward them to my wife. She will pass out just from seeing pics of the big swarm!!:tongue:
Click to expand...
you're quite welcome - i hope she enjoys them. i'll tell ya, standing in the **Middle** of the swarm (surrounded by 10's of thousands of bees) was uhn-real.
 
Any chance you can get some macro shots, especially if it is "easy" to identify the location of the queen plus perhaps a video to demonstrate the "fanning" that you mentioned?
 
RSO 34 said:
Any chance you can get some macro shots, especially if it is "easy" to identify the location of the queen plus perhaps a video to demonstrate the "fanning" that you mentioned?
Click to expand...
i'll see what i can do. in the meantime, here's a video of a newly-emerged queen that is "piping" (calling) to other queens (still in their capped cells); when they respond, she will sprint to their cell and stab / sting them through the cap - she wants as little competition as possible. (of course, she's also communicating to he colony that she's a queen.)

listen and you can hear her quite clearly:

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9qXLEZejRow&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9qXLEZejRow&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
 
Last edited:
queenlives said:
i'll see what i can do. in the meantime, here's a video of a newly-emerged queen that is "piping" (calling) to other queens (still in their capped cells); when they respond, she will sprint to their cell and stab / sting them through the cap - she wants as little competition as possible. (of course, she's also communicating to he colony that she's a queen.)

listen and you can hear her quite clearly:

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9qXLEZejRow&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9qXLEZejRow&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Click to expand...

So let me get this straight. The "virgin queen" is running around the hive
"piping", "Hay, if there are other queens around, let me know and I'll come over and kill you."

Other "virgin queens" respond with, "Yeah, I'm a queen also and I'm over here and ready to die.":confused:

Could be one of those time when it's best to remain silent.
 
Last edited:

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