A Swarming Good Time

It was a lovely warm day today, and we spent it with new friends Martin and Karleen and Kwee-Yan. We met Martin at the Farmers' Market this morning and then our little group snowballed when we met Kwee-Yan, who accompanied us to Martin's house where we met Karleen. Martin gave us a tour of his urban farm; we met his chickens (including Penguina) and surveyed the garden of winter vegetables. Afterward, we went over to Second St. to see Martin's new house and future headquarters of Urban Farm Livermore. Finally, we ended up at our place for coffee and a hive inspection.

When we opened the hive, we were shocked to find swarm cells. There were about five of them located on the third and fifth frames in the top box. We had been wondering when it would be time to split the hive, and I think we have our answer! It is a little nerve wrecking actually, considering that at any moment a cloud of bees might erupt from the hive and fly off into the sunset. We are going to make a split ASAP and put a lure in our top bar--my parents are delivering it tonight--so that if they decide that swarming is still a good idea, they might make their new home in the top bar.

It is really warm today--in the low seventies--so the bees are really active. With all of the talk of swarming, we thought for a moment that the extra activity around the entrance was a swarm in progress. We launched into action with our nuc box, ready to pull out the frames with the swarm cells and plunk them into a new home, hoping to stem the outflow of bees. But after a few minutes of observation, we decided that they were just enjoying the weather by getting out into the sun. We will DEFINITELY be splitting the hive tomorrow!

This seems to be a particularly good year for bees, at least with regard to swarming. A friend of ours just picked up an early swarm from a beekeeper in Santa Cruz, and our bees seem to be packing their bags as I type!

Here's what swarm cells look like for the bee-curious: