total swarm counts

[Tony Poe]

Just curious how everyone's swarm season is going compared to previous seasons. I have had less this year than last year, as far as total number of calls and captured swarms are you doing better or worse than last year.

[Richard Stewart]

Tony

I had a total of 8 swarms captured and 22 calls (swarms, cut-outs, and bee trees).

I have a single bee tree trap out going over at U.C.
_________________
Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm

An Ohio Century Farm Est 1855

North Bend, OH

[SGiraud]

This is the first year I have gone after any swarms, so I can't answer your question. But I have caught 2 swarms. One a couple of weeks ago, one today. Both are small, first one wasn't much bigger than a baseball on the tree. The second was the size of a softball.

I don't know what to do with them. Should I wait for small swarms to build out and build up, or should I combine them?

[Tony Poe]

Steve, I would just let them go and see what they can do. As long as they have a laying queen and are growing in numbers they should be alright. If they are not very big by September you can always combine them before the goldenrod flow. Maybe feed them if they will take it. I had overwintered a single hive that was a swarm I caught in late August last year and honestly I wasn't sure if they would make it but they made it and ended up being my strongest hive this year, 5 deeps high and full of honey and bees. If it was me I'd give them a chance.

[JimmyO]

So far I think we have 1 swarm call,1 cut out, 2 caught swarms in our own apiary,and 9 trapped swarms. We have about 10 swarm traps out this year. We have caught 4 swarms in 4 weeks at one location. I'm wondering if I put up 2 traps there will we catch 2 swarms?
we have given some away but most of them are in our yard. we have them in single deeps and are watching them. we will combine them this fall when we see what hives are stronger.
Jim

[Flowergirl]

[Richard Stewart]

I did not catch anything in my traps this year.

I was using either old comb and a swarm lure or old comb and lemongrass EO.

There's always next year!
_________________
Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm

An Ohio Century Farm Est 1855

North Bend, OH

[Tony Poe]

I didn't catch anything in my swarm traps either. I had one in my back yard and ended up catching 5 swarms and not one in the trap. Which leads me to another question. If you catch a swarm in a tree does that tree become more attractive to other swarms? I think it does because I caught 3 swarms in one tree three days apart. Two of them at the same time only a foot apart. I have a pic on my daughters cell phone. There is a guy in the brown county club who caught 3 swarms in the same tree at the same time, I saw the pic. I know 3 of the swarms were mine, but the last two I don't think were. If they were attracted to the other swarms pheremone,I wonder how far they can smell it from?

[Richard Stewart]

Good thoughts there.

I just caught a swarm yesterday from my own yard. This is the second time I have rounded one up there. I might place a swarm trap there, but to be honest I think the swarm trap would be better located not the "first" jump, when they are still orientating but at the second location.

My COMPLETELY unscientific opinion that is more a WAG.
_________________
Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm

An Ohio Century Farm Est 1855

North Bend, OH

[JimmyO]

It's allot like fishing. If you see one there put a trap there. If you do a cut out, put a trap there for the next one.
I have a couple spots that I probably won't put one next year because I didn't catch one this year.
Jim

[Tony Poe]

SGiraud, just looking back and was wondering what happened to those two small swarms that you caught and was wondering what you did with them? Curious if you combined them or let them build up and if so how are they doing now.

[Richard Stewart]

Here are my totals for the year.

12 Swarms all told here. Several of them late (end of July mid-August).

1 trap out.

1 cut-out.

I started passing all my cut-out calls on to the SWOBA list at large. With my allergies cut-outs put me at the highest risk.

I received a total of 102 bee removal calls this year. 21 were swarm calls, 9 of which I removed myself, 8 were passed on because of location or timeliness, and 4 were gone by the time I showed.

The rest of the calls, 81 of them, were structural removals or non-bee stinging pests. Of those, from my phone call interview, in person visits, or digital images via email, I was able to figure that 13 of those were wasps/hornets/yellow-jackets and 6 were high density foraging either by a pool or fountain or a particular bloom (especially the past three weeks).

The rest, surprisingly, were legit honey bee colonies of various sizes. Many I passed on, several of them large jobs that required lots of skill (two churches for example) others were nearly impossible. nearly a dozen home owners were willing to let the colony alone till next year in the spring.

A larger number (not sure exactly how many) were either bank owned or previously foreclosed homes.

I tried to document them, but without exact locations and my time at a premium with the little one, managing my own bees, and picking up three restaurant contracts for my produce its been tough.

My late swarms are all in single deeps or better now with a minimum of 8 frames drawn. 8 of the twelve are on migratory pallets with screened bottoms. They are rigght next to our 25 acre alf-alfa field, soybean fields, and lots of park board property that is yielding LOTS of golden rod right now. Three of the swarms our nearly honey bound in double deeps because of poor management on my part and the first sunny day we get I am going to pull frames to move between colonies.

The last four are doing well. They are in an outyard in Delhi on two acres and seem to be doing well. They are near one of those transmission line cuts that is heavy with golden rod and that invasive garlic-onion stuff with the little white flower clusters that appear quite heavy right now.

Nothing from my swarm traps at all this year.
_________________
Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm

An Ohio Century Farm Est 1855

North Bend, OH