Natural Beekeeping | WE CAUGHT A SWARM!!! in 36 hours (Photos & Vlog)
In Today's vlog we share some great a news!
After just 36 hours of the swarm trap hanging in a tree we have attracted a swarm!
This is likely the best news we could share with you! Our mentor, Leo, told us there is a 50% success rate on catching wild swarms so we're very happy for this type of early success!!
We've been keenly watching the swarm box on our land and noticed some activity shortly after hanging it. In the morning I saw a few interested bees (most likely scouts) checking out the box, no doubt reveling in the sweet lemongrass and propolis perfume wafting from the box. The seemed to be investigation and measuring this newly found object.
A few hours later we saw a flurry of activity and we got so darn excited. Smiling and hopeful, we kept checking it throughout the day.
Could it happen that quickly? Wow, looks like the bees are here to stay. It's a little early yet to say for sure, but it looks like a swarm has taken up residence in our swarm box. This is great news and we are simply so happy and excited. This is really encouraging us to continue our foray into natural bee keeping.
What this is teaching us is the power of working with nature.
By learning and allying with natural cycles, tendencies and rhythms, we can succeed (almost) effortlessly. This is the essence of permaculture: connecting with and understanding the natural world and using that knowledge to achieve positive and useful results! We simply created the favorable conditions for a bee colony and a swarm decided to make it their home, no intervention on our part.
We will be consulting our mentor as to timing for relocation, and later will temporarily move the box to his place for a couple of weeks. This ensures the bees directional instincts are honored, otherwise moving them a short distance can confuse them. We'll keep you all abreast as we observe this box and the others we have around our home county.
Thanks for tuning in!
Check out our past vlogs on Natural Beekeeping and Swarm Traps:
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
Wow that's amazing, you already caught one!!!! Definitely keeping an eye in yur development for that swarm...
I will have to watch the video as soon as I get out of work. Its true that if we work in harmony with nature we can have effortless abundance... you are proof of that!
Thanks for sharing the wonderful news. So excited for you guys
thanks mate! super happy about this!! hope you like the vid. i (wren) had a fun time making it! added more music and cuts than usual ;) haven't had a lot of experience making vlogs before this so learning as i go :))
I tried a couple time to talk in front of the camera... not my thing, not yet at least. (Kind of funny since I've worked behind the camera for over 20 years now!)
Nice editing, I like the 3 hours, 6 hours later stuff. Hey by the way what do you guys use to write on your first image of a post? I like a lot of the fonts you are using.
thanks!! the first image on this dtube stuff i do through photoshop. save the "snap" for dtube then edit it in photoshop.
usually though for posts i use "rookie cam" app on my phone for the cool fonts :) it's super easy and free :)
Awesome, thanks. I was asking for the regular posts (i mean not video) It looks really nice!
Gracias ;) my sister an Instagram queen gave me the secret ;)
LOL long live the queen!
Wow, this is great news! And so soon. So you move it to Leo's to allow them to adjust to the box? How fun!
yes basically! they need to be moved over 5 miles otherwise i guess they can't find the box if you move them less than that! LEARNING ;) xoxo we're so happy!!
All the planning and doing what would attract the bees paid off! So cool, just 36 hrs after putting it up!
How far away is he from where the box is? Just wondering how far they need to go to not be confused...
thanks! they need to go over 5 miles to not be confused. our mentor lives way past that - around 45 min away. their foraging range is two miles and perhaps they scout even farther so we have to take them out of that realm for a while and then bring them back :)
So while they are at your mentor's they stay in the box the wholr 10 days or so?
yeah we'll open the holes up and they can forage there, but come back to the hive, then we'll bring it back after the time period ;)
Ok thanks, I'll learn more eventually. It makes some sense for now.
Hey that's awesome - congrats on the great catch! Looking forward to seeing how it goes and if you get honey :)
gracias! we're super stoked!!! honey comes later, def want to establish our apiary slowly over time :)
just stumbled on your blog. cool stuff. I remember playing with swarming bees when I was little haha
Oh my.. playing with them? I shot a water gun at a bunch a wasps when I was a kid and I'll remember that day for ever I think!!!
we were young and stupid. we ran our hand through swarm. they ignored us. more important things going on like keeping queen warm. or at least thats what my friend convinced me
Crazy kids!!!
haha... that is wild! it's true though.. the swarm really isn't paying attention to you for above stated reasons ^^ really focused on the queen/finding their new home.
congrats on catching a swarm so quickly btw! good luck with it
That's pretty awesome - I want to eventually get into beekeeping, I'll have to give this local bee capture method a try :)
Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be!
The more upbeat music made it hard to hear the speaker a couple times.
This is amazing! I don't practice permaculture but you guys are encouraging me to pursue it in some way. The shots are brilliant!