Swarm Season

General Discussion of Diary Posts and Questions on Beekeeping Matters
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Colino
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Re: Swarm Season

Unread post by Colino »

The swarm turned into a cutout. They had found an old winter killed hive full of stinky old comb and honey. It was so badly constructed I had to cut it out in chunks and vacuum the bees off as I went. They had no brood yet so I just trashed the comb and will put it through my solar wax melter. There were so many bees in this swarm that I had to add a second deep box onto the bee vac so they had somewhere to go. These last three swarms have been massive, are all primary swarms this big or is this year an anomaly?
Narcissism is easy because it's me or I, Empathy is hard because it's they or them.-Colino
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Colino
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Re: Swarm Season

Unread post by Colino »

Here is the footage of the swarm that turned into a cutout.
https://youtu.be/-7UxyXWi8Ug
Narcissism is easy because it's me or I, Empathy is hard because it's they or them.-Colino
Metropropolis
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Re: Swarm Season

Unread post by Metropropolis »

Colino wrote: It is turning into a bang up year for swarms here in sunny Southeastern Alberta. It seems the warm dry spring has caused an early nectar flow and is catching a lot of the bigger guys with their pants down.
Hi Colino,

It has been insane here in Calgary. Swarm season started 3 weeks early, and came in hard and fast. At this point our association has caught about 40 swarms. This is unprecedented. Last year, we caught around 25 over the entire season. The flood has slowed, thank god. We may see some more, but probably no more than 10 I think.

I think you've called it in terms of the early spring catching folks unawares - Moreso, in the city, we've got a lot of new beekeepers that are generating swarms.

All told it's actually been a bit exhausting! My own equipment is maxed, as is that of most of the others on our swarm team. At this point, getting someone to go out on a call is like pulling teeth.

It really has been something else. It will be interesting to see next year if this is the "new normal", or just a blip.

Nice to see you've made your way here, by the way.
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Colino
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Re: Swarm Season

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Just got around to checking my traps after a month on the road and I caught 3 out of 8 if the last one I haven't checked yet is empty. I just don't need too many more hives right now so I'm just gonna pile them up in the bee yard and walk away, it might make it so they survive the winter. I've still got 2 cut outs to do south of Lethbridge but seeing as how it is so late they probably won't winter either. Time will tell.
Narcissism is easy because it's me or I, Empathy is hard because it's they or them.-Colino
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beesknees365
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Re: Swarm Season

Unread post by beesknees365 »

That's funny! Here in Arizona that is quite normal for someone to request bee removal services. It happens for most of the year, with a decline in the colder months. There are lots of bee removal companies, many exterminators too, but we're trying to spread the word that bees should never be killed but safely relocated due to the ecological hardships they have been having for over a decade with Colony Collapse Disorder among other things. Spread the word, never to have bees exterminated but relocated safely! I go to this website a lot: http://www.kylesbees.com. It's a great site with good information and articles about bees and their magical world!
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Colino
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Re: Swarm Season

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beesknees365 wrote:That's funny! Here in Arizona that is quite normal for someone to request bee removal services. It happens for most of the year, with a decline in the colder months. There are lots of bee removal companies, many exterminators too, but we're trying to spread the word that bees should never be killed but safely relocated due to the ecological hardships they have been having for over a decade with Colony Collapse Disorder among other things. Spread the word, never to have bees exterminated but relocated safely! I go to this website a lot: http://www.kylesbees.com. It's a great site with good information and articles about bees and their magical world!
Hello BeeKnees:
You guys are in a whole different Ball game down south. It would be great to work bees all year but ours get locked down about November and sometimes we don't see them again until April. Our swarm season is shorter than yours so we don't get a lot of calls for cut outs so therefore there are not many bee removal companies. Most of the time the later swarms don't make it through the winter.
Narcissism is easy because it's me or I, Empathy is hard because it's they or them.-Colino
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