SWARM!

I was watering veggies in the hoop house when I noticed an increase in pitch and volume of the buzz from the hive next to the hoop house.  I don't know whether I am annoyed that on a day when I already had 100'+ of fencing to put up, and nine million other things to do, that the hive decided to throw a monster swarm.  Or maybe I'm grateful I was right there when it happened, so I could follow them to the tree they decided to hang out in, or more accurately, the tree they moved to, after the first tree proved unsuitable for whatever reason.  Anyway, they started 30' up a cherry tree, where there was no way I could reach them, but then they moved to 4' off the ground in one of the pear trees I planted a couple years ago.  It was the biggest swarm I've seen - I decided to put them into a deep instead of a nuke, just because it was such a large swarm... think 2+ footballs worth... or a ridiculous 5# worth of bees.  I had to cut the branch off the pear tree, but it needed to be pruned anyway because of the downward curve it was growing in.  It wasn't the smoothest transfer I've ever made because I had to cut with my right hand, and hold the small end of the branch with my left - the branch was too thick to cut further back so I could hold it between the tree and the bees.  But the ones that fell outside the box all headed inside afterward, so apparently the queen was inside.  I hope they stay there.  I'll move them to the other side of the hoop house tonight... when my bee suit is dried out from all the sweating I did in it while doing this.

In case any beekeepers are wondering, the deep has five frames with partially built comb in it, and I will add the other five when I take the branch out tonight, since by then the bees will have crawled off that in favor of the comb.  I like this trick for hiving packages without shaking them, too - just stick them in a hive with some built out frames and they leave the box on their own.  Then take away the empty box on top that makes room for the branch/box they were on/in, and everyone is happy.