Swarms, 5/26/2015

The Beginning Beekeeper, Photos, Photos II, Bees at 5 1/2 weeks, 7/18/14, New Queens, Honey Harvest, Winter Prep. Second Year 4/1/15, Update 5/26/15, 9/12/15 Something New. 11/12/15 Winter Prep. 11/20/15 January 30, 2016 Spring 2016 March 2017 My Photos

My Swarms, 5/26/15

Since the last update, My awesome overwintered hives have swarmed; all 3 of them. Even though I split the 2 largest, one swarmed twice and I'm not sure which one it was. I captured all 4 swarms. I kept 2 and gave 2 to my mentor. I started this spring with 3 hives and now have 7. That's more than I want at this point in my beekeeping adventure. It's my fault, I fed too much this spring hoping to have them draw comb a little early. They made bees instead. Below are some photos of those swarms. 2 splits + 2 swarms + 3 overwintered hives = 7 total

This is the first swarm in a small wild cherry tree about 3 feet off the ground.	4th swarm just before hiving.
3rd swarm, just put into a nuc box.	2nd swarm in a peony bush.
3rd swarm again on the tree.	4th swarm after hiving.

Just another minor update. The 2 swarms I kept are doing very well. In fact the first one hived in early May donated a couple frames of open brood & eggs, one each to the 2 splits made earlier. The splits did not show signs yet of having a queen after 30 days. I decided to add the open brood and eggs to see if they made queen cells because I didn't see a queen and there was no brood or eggs present. We'll see what happens.