Monday, June 4, 2018

SPRING SWARM!

One of our hives has been so successful that they produced a new queen and she left the hive in search of her new home, taking a few thousand workers with her.

She stopped for a quick rest int he magnolia tree in the garden...



Dr. Calleri happened to be able to provide them an empty hive to move into... the hard part was getting them in there. In this video, you can see some of the bees doing their "wiggle" dance to tell the others where they think they found a good place to live. 



We had to convince them that our hive was better then any other spots they might have found, so Dr. Calleri took action. Donning a bee suit and climbing up a tall ladder, he clipped off the branches that the bees were hanging on, and moved the whole ball into our empty hive boxes, trapping them inside with the exits blocked. Soon the queen's pheromones will make the new hive "smell" like home and we will be able to open up the entrances so they can come and go as they wish.