How to Catch a Bee Swarm At a Playground - Bee catching series #2 - tutorial
May and June are the months that we see swarms of bees in The Netherlands: It is the natural reproduction of a bee colony. Let's find out how you can catch such a swarm. Do you come with me on this catch?
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Don't BEE scared - they will not sting you - (you are behind a monitor :-) )
It all starts with a call from , most of the times, a person who is concerned on " a large amount of bees everywhere". Some moments later the swarm will settle in a tree. That is the right moment for the bee guardian to come and help "man AND bees".
I was called to a playground where the bees settled in a nearby tree. There were no children playing (guess why not ??) and I could reach it easily.
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Did you spot them? No? If you want to be a beekeeper, try again!! or, look at the next picture.
Got it? Great!
Time for action
It not that difficult to catch a swarm. I always start to cut away some branches that obstruct the passage of the SKEP. The straw basket is the classical way of catching bees and is a lot of fun. I Put the basket right under and if possible, around the swarm. See the next picture where the Swarm is free and open, good to reach. (sorry, action pictures are not always sharp )
Then, I give the tree a shake so that the TOP bees loose their grip on the branch, and all the others hang at their sisters bodies, so the whole ball of bees is in the basket!
I place the basket beside the tree and a miracle will happen: The bees start to FAN with their bodies to send the pheromones of the queen around, so that all the other bees know where to go. They orientate to the new home.
At First they will fly a bit:
But after 5-10 minutes they are fine and happy, organizing their new living.
So, 20.000 bees are crawling on each other, gently and calm. They gather in the top of the SKEP, with the Queen in the middle.
And here you can see that they build already some wax comb on the tree branches!
Then, I brought them to their new living area. The other little animal is approving his new neighbors!
Just to let you know that the bees are extremely happy with your help!
They are working hard, right now, to pollinate your flowers and vegetables.
A Big thanks to the BEES.
And A thank You for YOU that you kept watching this episode of the Bee-Catching Series
That's an interesting system for moving your bees. I like the cover that you use on the base of the skep. I have just moved them in cardboard boxes, lol. The shape of the skep seems like they would be more calm in there, too, moving to the top of it.
Hi, thanks for your remark! The skep stays in its position as on the picture. So, the round open end is covered with a screened cloth. This wide window gives them opportunity to vent air to cool. You put it on by turning large nails at the 4 corners and then push them into the straw skep. It give a bee-proof seal.
Thanks for explaining that. Such a neat system.
So interesting!