Catching a Wild Swarm of Bees

Our needs are provided, if only we can see the gifts that are right there before us.

This morning began like any other day. I woke, I had a cup of tea, then I went outside to continue Spring's work. My first morning encounter was with our friend the Bobcat. This time, however, it was up close, and personal. I walked along the fence line, taking note of what needed to be done. On my side, I have turned the grass under, but across the wire, is still quite high, maybe three feet at least. Apparently my friend was hiding there in the grass hunting squirrels undetected. I got about 20 feet from her when she sprung from her spot. Fortunately in the opposite direction. Fortune would be kind to me today.

After my fence inspection, I started working in the far lavender field. We have had warm weather this week, and the wild grasses are growing very quickly. They will suffocate the lavender plants if I don't remove them. Morning is the best time, as it is still cool. I went to work.

Suddenly, it was deja vu all over again. I heard a loud rumble in the trees. I dropped the hoe and went to investigate. There was the swarm I saw the other day. The sky was full of bees. I crept down into the trees and sat down in the grass directly beneath the swarm and watched them. It was quite amazing actually. I tried hard to see the individual bees through the mass. But they appeared as little black streaks. I practiced following one with my eyes for a while. Eventually she would take a turn and lose my train of sight, and there would only be the mass once again. A sky of little black ribbons moving in every direction like so much Brownian motion.

But as I watched, the mass started doing something. The streaks seemed to be going in a direction. Towards a particular tree. I looked closer there, and I saw it. Hanging about 16 feet high, the swarm had started to ball up. Wow! this was really cool. I went back to get my camera.

When I returned, there was silence. I missed them I thought. But searching the trees, there they were. Completely quiet. I sat and watched. Every now and then a clump of bees would break free and drop to the ground. There they would disperse, take flight, and return to the ball up in the tree. Perhaps I could give this wayward colony a home in one of my hives?

This was my first swarm as a beekeeper. So I didn't really know what I was doing. But watching the clumps fall to the ground, I came up with a simple plan. I would put a hive under the swarm, then give the limb on which that lit a little tugsy. They would drop into the hive, and we would all live happily every after, right?!

Fortunately, just yesterday I had cleaned out some hives for new bees that are arriving on Thursday. So I had an empty hive just waiting for new tenants. I happened to be on a very steep slope, I dug a flat spot under the swarm and set up the empty hive. I removed a few frames like when shaking package bees and I prepared to tug.

But could I get the swarm to drop in to the box? They were so high. The photo on the right gives you some idea of the logistical challenge. That black conical thing at the top of the photo is the swarm ball. Way down below, is the have box. Some how I had to get that giant ball to fall directly into the box. Oh, this is going to be a trick!

Okay, how bout a little test tug. With a long pole with a hook on it, I grabbed the branch and gently tugged. Nothing happened. I tugged harder, and a small clump fell just missing the box. Ah. I moved the box and tried again. Ah. This time they fell to the other side of the box. I repositioned it yet again.

Okay now I was ready to give it a try. I gave a harder tug. About one half of the swarm fell down and hit the box. Yes! But there were still more up there. I started tugging. Clumps would break off, but the smaller clump would disintegrate about halfway down, take flight, and reassemble back on the branch. This wasn't working. Bees were literally flying everywhere. I stopped and watched in amazement as the swarm ball reassembled right before my eyes, in less than five minutes. It was truly wondrous.

Okay, I sat and watched them settle down and rethought the situation. The initial clumps would fall to the ground, but the subsequent smaller clumps would break up and reassemble before every touching the ground. What I needed was a big giant clump to fall in one sweep. This was going to take a much harder tug. I hooked the pole on the branch and pulled with all my force. As I thought, a very large clump fell from the tree and broke over the top of the hive, which was now swarming with bees! I grabbed the lid, and closed her up.

I left for a while and returned about an hour later. I was elated to see the new colony was getting comfortable in their new abode. The branch was completely empty of bees, and the front of the hive was full of bees coming and going.

I always love watching a newly hived colony. It is quite wondrous. Look closely at the picture on the right. Do you see the bees on the side of the hive with their tails pointed to 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock? They are fanning. These bees are not crawling about, but rather stationary in this position. They are releasing a scent that calls all the other bees home, and they are fanning their wings to spread the scent far and wide. What a miraculous way to communicate through scent! And how appropriate on a lavender farm :)

I returned after dark and moved the hive to it's final location over in the lavender field. I thought how marvellous this was. I needed bees for my lavender and for delicious honey. And bees just showed up and moved in. How many of our needs will be met such as this without toil. All we need is faith to see these gifts for what they are.