Hermosa Beach Arbor Bees

 

Several calls came in to the LA Bee Rescue Hot Line looking for help.   The bees were on an arbor under which the kids played.  This turned out to be a very easy capture.  There was a basketball goal handy which I pulled over under the swarm.   I put a nuc on it after removing three of the frames.  Using a bee brush I swept most of the festooning bees into the nuc. The bees were clinging to vines on the arbor so it was hard to tell if i got the queen with so many bees still up among the vines.  I gently scooped as many of the bees as i could.  This had to be done carefully.  If I killed the queen this entire swarm would have been doomed.  The swarm had not started to make comb so there was no place for her to lay eggs.  No eggs meant no larvae to make an emergency queen. 

Look at all the little butts up in the air and nasonoving.

 

Eventually there were a lot of the bees nasonoving and I was confident She was in the nuc and shortly after that the other bees started to get into the nuc also.   I slid the nuc lid over most the top, opened the hole in front and left the bees there.

I returned at dusk and all of the bees were inside.  I closed the lid, plugged the holes and took the nuc home.   It is now resting on my back garden wall.  I hope to get them to a new home today or tomorrow.

This is one of the easier ways to capture a swarm, it was a pleasant operation.  Now to see if the bees decide the nuc is okay as a home for a while.  At least 50% of captured swarms move on, seeking better accommodations.  Such is life for the Beekeeper.