Someone in our city had a swarm in their back yard. Could we come?
Normally we would refer them to our Swarm Collector List but in this case it just so happened that the swarm was in our subdivision.
I called my sister.
"Dad and I are collecting a swarm on your street."
"Where?" she asked.
"We're going to the pink house," I said.
"What pink house?" she asked
"The one next to you. On the corner."
"Oh!"
"Yes, so go on over and we'll meet you there," I said.
"We're going to the pink house," I said.
"What pink house?" she asked
"The one next to you. On the corner."
"Oh!"
"Yes, so go on over and we'll meet you there," I said.
Dad was already there when I arrived, along with the home owner, and my sister. The owner stayed a ways back from the swarm. That's not unexpected. He was being cautious.
I handed my camera to my sister. She could be the paparazzi. I noticed she stood a lot closer and wasn't afraid.
She hasn't been to the yard a lot but she's heard so much about bees and has been my beta reader for my book so she's learned a lot about them.
The swarm had placed themselves in perfect reach about 4 feet from the ground.
After a couple good shakes there were lots of bees in the air so I took to using the brush instead and this actually worked better than shaking. I held the nuc lid under the limb and brushed the bees into it. They fell in large clumps. Then I tipped the lid and shook them into the nuc.
I took the nuc to Mom and Dad's for the night.
The next morning I put the nuc frames into the deep along with a hive top feeder.
Dad had to return the next day because there were more bees clustered around the limb - so we hadn't gotten them all--I should have left the nuc until after dark and given the bees more time.
Mom had her plates of water with sticks again and I asked Dad who removed the rocks from the bird bath?
"I did," he said. "I thought some kid put them in there."
"Yes," I said, "Mom was the kid."
Once again Mom has a hive to observe. At least for a week or so until we move it to the bee yard.
We have seven hives now but we still haven't found a new location for our yard.