Part Thirteen: Reversing Boxes and… Surprise! A Swarm!
After I finished writing my May article wishing for a "crazy good beekeeping story for you," my wish came true! The last month started off slowly, with a hive box reversal and some front porch peeping. I proudly watched the bees go out and come back with heavily-stocked pollen pants... and then it ended in a surprise swarm.
Rearranging the hive
On one of the nicer days in early April, we did our first hive inspection of Kha-bee-si and decided to try our hand at reversing the boxes. We removed each box and set them in a semicircle around the hive, so we could easily recall the order in which to place them back on the hive.
The second, third, and fourth boxes from the top of the hive had ample supplies of a mix of brood, honey, and pollen. The fifth box down was empty, so we removed it, and put the brood nest boxes on the bottom board in the same order that they were before we began our manipulation. We rearranged the frames in the top box of resources that we gave them, so there was a mix of frames of capped honey and open drawn comb, should Her Majesty wish to lay eggs up there. Tim then shook the bees from the frames of the box we removed in front of the rearranged hive. It was a flying frenzy there for a little while, but calmed down after about 20 minutes.
They all made their way back home. We were ready to split in a couple weeks! But the bees had other plans…
Sorry, lady, but we must swarm!
The last weekend in April, Tim and I went outside to mulch some flower beds and noticed a large formation of bees on the outside of Kha-bee-si's hive. (My first thought: are they trying to tell us something? Backwards E?!) Then we saw a horde of bees frantically flying around in large circles in our side yard, about 150 yards from the original hive. We quickly put two-and-two together and realized Kha was swarming. Luckily, the bees decided to bivouac (a new word I learned this week referring to the location where they temporarily rest before heading off to establish a more permanent home) about 4 feet off the ground in a tree right in our side yard. What luck! Because I saw the pros at Betterbee hive a massive swarm last season, I recognized that we needed to scoop the bees into a nuc or box of some sort, focusing on getting the queen inside. I held the Pro Nuc box while Tim scooped… I still hesitate thinking about putting my whole hand in a ball of bees, but he doesn't. I'm glad one of us is fearless!
After about 2/3 of the swarm was in the box, the rest of the bees on the tree decided to take off and flew over the road in wide circles. We figured we didn't get the queen (she's unmarked and we didn't see her as the bees were scooped in) and they were off to a new home. But, after less than 5 minutes, they were back on the tree and heading into the Pro Nuc. Phew! We got 'em, or so we thought…
I moved on to mow the lawn across the street and Tim went golfing. We were patting ourselves on the back for a job well done. When I finished mowing, I peeked over and noticed that telltale frantic flying again, this time closer to the river. I was yelling WHYYYYY loudly in my head and went over to check it out. The mass of bees slowly made its way back to the Pro Nuc and clumped on it. They were all rushing inside the box. An hour later, they were all inside. These little creatures confuse me beyond reason.
At nightfall, we closed up the Pro Nuc and moved them as far away from the original hive on our property as possible. Then very early in the morning, we moved them into a double-medium hive setup because they were too large for the small nuc of 5 medium frames. As of three days after the swarm, the swarm colony was still in its temporary home in its two medium boxes with a hive-top feeder full of sugar syrup on top to entice them to stay. Fingers crossed that they don't get any crazy ideas and try to take off again! Next weekend, we will move them back to the apiary next to their original hive, using the tips from last month's article on how to move bee colonies short distances.
Final thoughts
I just have to reiterate what I've said over and over again in the past year: bees don't care about the plans we make! We had every intention to split them the following weekend, but they had already made up their minds to swarm.
What could we have done to prevent them from swarming? When we went in and reversed boxes in early April, we noticed some drone brood. This means they were feeling pretty confident, and growing quickly. We didn't register that and just assumed they wouldn't consider swarming until the weather changed over in mid-May. You know what they say about assuming?!
We gave them ample room to grow at the time that we reversed the boxes, but the less than desirable weather probably made it feel overly congested inside the hive, and they were just fed up with it. Because the weather was crummy, we didn't see an alarmingly large number of bees outside the hive, so we weren't tipped off at all that they were overcrowded.
You live and you learn… and this month we learned how to catch a swarm. Thanks for splitting yourselves for us, bees! When they officially make their way over to the little apiary on the dam, we'll give the swarm hive a new name. Let's not make any plans, though, because the bees might hear us ;)
Your Betterbee-ginner Beekeeper,
Quinn
A Year in the Life of a Beginner Beekeeper Series
Part One: Tackle Your Fear by Experiencing the Wonder of the Honey Bee
Part Two: Plan and Prepare for Your Bees
Part Three: First Hive Inspection
Part Four: Ask Experienced Beekeepers Questions, Get Helpful Answers
Part Five: The Beekeeping Journey has Many Twists and Turns, Surprises and Regrets
Part Six: Newspaper Combining, Drone Culling, and Honey Harvesting, Oh My!
Part Seven: Preparing for Winter
Part Nine: The End of a Decade, The Beginning of Something New
Part Ten: Winter Feeding & a Heart-Wrenching Loss
Part Eleven: Eagerly Awaiting Spring
Part Twelve: Exiting Winter Isolation & Kicking Off Mite Management
