Capturing a Honeybee Swarm (video)
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 at 2:03 pm by Jim LovettFiled under General | 9 Comments »
A swarm of several thousand honeybees settled in a tree outside of Monarch Watch HQ on April 11, 2011 – they’re not our bees (at least not the bees we have in our building) so we’re not sure where they came from 🙂
9 Responses to “Capturing a Honeybee Swarm (video)”
By Tim Mollohan on Apr 13, 2011
That is amazing. I didn’t realize you could be in close contact with bees without protective gear.
By Cathy Cattle on Apr 13, 2011
Great job there so glad you shot the video of it all. Now where will you take them?
By sharongreenlaw@msn.com on Apr 14, 2011
This is just how it’s done. My father-in-law and I captured two swarms out of our apples trees. We didn’t have a sting of any sort. We just sawed off the branch and shook them into the top of a cardboard box with cardboard divisions. The second one I had a glove and just waved the bees out of the way until I found the large queen. I knocked her into my glove and gently closed my fist, within minutes my hand and arm was so heavy I couldn’t hold it up!
By Corrie Fochler on Apr 14, 2011
How did you know they weren’t a hybrid? Also isn’t the concern with CCD placing them in hives because they have to maintained with antibiotics? What are you doing with the bees, moving them to a forest?
By Kathy Westerfield on Apr 14, 2011
Thank you for sharing! That was awesome. I showed the video to my grandsons and passed on the learning experience. Thanks to Sharon Childress for posting this on facebook!
By Melanie on Apr 14, 2011
Enjoyed the video, thanks for sharing!
By Mary on Apr 19, 2011
why do we need to captured them? Don’t we want them to be established in the wild and not just in hives (which maybe havent been all that good for them?)
By Katherine Kautz on May 3, 2011
WOW! Thanks for sharing this amazing video! I’ve often worked in my flower beds amidst the bees and never been stung. It’s great to see someone who knows so much demonstrate that bees don’t have to be feared.
By Linda on May 3, 2011
My understanding is that before the bees swarm, they first pump themselves full of honey. (Sort of like taking a snack along for the journey!) Since their bodies are swollen with honey, they cannot arch themselves enough to be able to sting, and that’s why you can handle swarming bees without getting attacked.