Restless Wanderers

The old hive swarmed again this morning for the fifth time. It happened at 10:15 am when the temperature was 57 F and the sun was shining. The bees eventually formed a cluster 10 feet up on a branch of Chad's pine tree. They would have been easy to retrieve if it wasn't for the height. Fortunately it turned out that not only is Chad a cool guy he also owns a extensive selection of ladders. With both myself and Jessica holding a cardboard box below the bees, we shook the branch and bees fell in. They were transfered to Alan's wooden nuc box and placed at the top of Chad's ladder, so that the remaining bees could find their new home.

The wooden nuc box and ladder:

We had everything wrapped up by noon. Jessica went back to work and I, thinking that all the bees were settled for the rest of the day, went out. I got back at 4 pm and soon realised that everything wasn't quite the same as I'd left them. The bees from the right side of the TBH had gone, vacated, moved on!!!!

Jessica continues the story....

Tim called me at work today and said that the bees from the right side of TBH had gone. We think they moved from the right side of the TBH to the left side, leaving behind them five lobes of newly formed comb with just a bit of packed pollen. I'm starting to think of these bees as some viscous fluid that is impossible to confine. They just keep flowing from one location to another. I can't begin to imagine what they are up to, and I am a little concerned that they don't find the TBH to be a hospitable home. (We made that hive!!!) Nevertheless, they were unhappy enough with their new home to leave behind a weeks' worth of comb. 

On the other hand, it may have had nothing to do with the TBH--perhaps their queen died and they decided to join their sisters next door in a last ditch survival effort. It's hard to know what their motivations are. But actually, their current configuration suits us just fine. We were a little concerned about the growing number of colonies in our little apiary. I just wonder what their next move will be!

Here is the first movie of the swarm.... for all of them just click the link....