Gift Of Summer
The second day of summer and my honeybees swarm again. This time it was the second hive, the one that barely had anything going in to wintering and they managed to pull through. The size of the bees from this hive is small too, smaller than the first hive’s bees. It didn’t matter how many times I inspected this hive, I could never find the queen. They’ve also taken longer to build up their strength.
They pulled a high noon on me. They swarmed exactly at noon before settling on a birch tree and waiting for the scouts to find a perfect place for their new home. I set up a new base, super and frames in a hurry. At least I have base, though not yet coated, and frames this time. No inner and outer cover though. I’m using a winter inner cover and a wooden board temporarily for now.
Retrieving a swarm from twelve feet above ground wasn’t easy. I thought I could spray them with water and brush them into a cardboard box. As it turned out I can only do one thing at a time because I needed to hold onto a branch to prevent myself from falling off the ladder. So, forget the brush. I sprayed them then pulled the cardboard box along the branch that they gathered on. The majority of them easily dropped into the box. I quickly closed the cover and took them to their newly prepared home. Then, back up the ladder again. After three trips up the ladder I got most of them. They settled pretty fast in the new hive, hive #6.
After I finished with the swarm I inspected the original second hive. This time I had no mercy. I removed all the queen cells, two had already opened anyway, to prevent further swarming. All frames in the super above the queen excluder were filled with honey. So I removed four of them that were completely sealed, left the one that was partially sealed in there for them. The bees punished me with four stings. It really wasn’t their fault, I was robbing them of their food supply and I wore only a t-shirt, veil and gloves.
Now I have four frames of honey that need to be extracted and a new hive. I found an old English poem below while searching for swarming:
A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July isn’t worth a fly.
According to this poem, I nature has given me a load of hay and three silver spoons plus four frames of honey (so far).
Petals and Wings 
Well done for catching the swarm! The honey looks beautiful. Did you put a queen excluder under the swarm? Sometimes worth doing just in case they feel like taking off again.
Thank you. No, I didn’t put a queen excluder in but they stayed and have been busy flying in and out. I saw a couple of them taking pollen in yesterday.
I’ve read that if I have something that smells of honey and bees wax, the bees are more likely to stay. I used an old super and winter inner cover, and new frames with natural bees wax foundation. So I think they took the bait.