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I finally got a call to get a swarm today. I had just been grumbling that I hadn't really even heard of a local swarm this year. A couple of weeks ago I had a text about one an hour away and loaded up to leave to go get it, and some damn hippy heard about it and beat me to it.
This one turned out to be at a farm where I had gotten one of my first swarms. They have a giant maple with a hive up high in a limb that I considered trying to remove a couple of years ago but decided against.
The owner called as he was leaving and said they were swarming out around the yard. I found them 100' from the tree on a limb about 12' off the ground. The owner happens to have a step ladder nearby that I could use and I placed a box on top which ended up being a foot under the ball of bees. I risked them off with a dust pan and a small broom. Out of there with almost all of the bees in about 20 minutes.
When putting these in my bee yard I checked my boxes to see if I needed to add supers....but I didn't yet. Rain is slowing them down I think.
Nice swarm catch, just wish it had been 6-8' closer to the ground.
Haven't gotten anything in my other traps yet but you can bet your ass I'm placing a trap on the farm in this story next year. Maybe this year in case it swarms again.
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