Today in the orchard
Catching a swarm, June 19, 2025
Today we began to weed the Finley Lane Orchard. Sounds like a big job (it is), but it moves along quickly. We’ll be doing this for the next couple of weeks and will have details and photos in the next few days.
The big news, however, is that we had another swarm. We had had one on May 27 that we were too late to capture before the bees disappeared into the woods. This time we were ready! We were weeding trees not far from the hives when it became evident that the bees were up to something really intense. They were getting louder and louder by the second. Within three or four minutes the sky above us was dark with a gazillion bees in a frenzy. It was wild. Before long they bunched up on the branch of one of the Wickson trees a few feet away. Fortunately the branch was only four feet above the ground.
Seth, the local beekeeper, had given us a special bee-catching cardboard box. Skylar held the box immediately below the swarm. Marc gave the branch a quick short shake, and the swarm fell into the box. It worked great, but in less than a minute, there were more bees bunched up on the branch. So we did the process again and got the rest. There were bees all over us, but, incredibly, none of us got a single sting. After about ten minutes, we plugged up the entry hole on the box when it appeared that no bees were leaving. Later in the afternoon, Seth arrived and examined the contents of the box. We had gotten the queen as well. We have a new hive!
