Jon Eller's Life Science: Swarm Capture 24 May

Jon's Bio

I graduated from SIUC in 1981. After college I worked as an officer in the Air Force until retirement in 1997. I had a second career teaching middle school science and retired again in 2010. In 1968 I married my high school sweetheart, Shirley, and we have two beautiful daughters and four grandchildren.
I have always loved to study natural history and bees are a fantastic organism for that pursuit. Their communication, cooperation, and life cycles are amazing. It is fun just to sit by the hive and watch them rush in and out with their cargo. Beekeeping tunes you into the ecology of plants in your area as you learn which ones produce the nectar and pollen the hives depend on. This knowledge is a key ingredient of hive management. Many of the posts I make on this blog will be about plant happenings.
I am also interested in fishing and woodworking. I enjoy animal husbandry and have raised many kinds of poultry. Currently I only have a couple of yard dogs and three Boston Terriors.
Thanks to the MV Beekeepers for hosting this site.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Swarm Capture 24 May

I planned to look through my hives today, but with the high wind I changed my mind about that. Got a call about 10 AM for a swarm in Pleasant Hill. They were easy to capture. Here are some pictures taken by my wife of the bees. I cut the limb and placed them in front of a deep hive body. They seemed happy to just run in. I sealed them up with screen on top and at entrance and headed home. I plan to hive them tomorrow morning.

Close up to show scent fanning bees. They open the last two abdominal segments to expose scent gland and then fan the chemical signal which says "come here!"