They're all in the box!

After collecting Olea's afterswarm the other day, some bees were still in a small cluster; this always happens. This cluster was the size of a cantaloupe.   I was going to let them return to the parent hive, make their way to the nuc or just die.  Early yesterday morning, Maidi suggested that I shake them into a box and take them to the nuc- an excellent idea.  I immediately did so.  I put the box beneath the nuc.  But you can take a bee to a nuc but you can't make it go in.  They just stayed in the box all day, all night and today.
Since it was several hundred bees (maybe a thousand) I decided to help them into the nuc. At first I wanted to make a ramp using the flap of the box, but could not arrange things for that.  So, I poured the bees onto the top of the nuc, expecting them to crawl down the face into the door; but, no.  After sometime, I lifted the lid about 1/2 inch and waited.  In short time, two bees crawled into the hive.  So I propped the lid up, went inside and set the timer for 30 minutes.  I took a look, and almost all of them were inside.  I gave them another 20 minutes, et voila!- they were all inside.  I closed the lid and went in for dinner.

Olea's hive casts an afterswarm

This afternoon, while putting in drip emitters, a loud buzzing caused me to look up.  Bees were pouring out of Olea's hive....again.  The swarm clustered about 30 feet from the hive on the vines behind the apple trees.

The cluster as seen from the lawn

A closer view of the cluster

A secondary swarm, or afterswarm, is different from the primary in a couple of ways.  Firstly, it is smaller, and secondly, it has a virgin queen.  This means it takes longer for the queen to start laying in the new hive; a couple of weeks as opposed to as soon as comb is drawn.  (By the way, two days ago I looked into the nuc with the primary swarm.  There was new drawn comb and some capped brood.)

After I had made sure that the bees stayed in the box, I put in 5 frames and moved it next to the first swarm. 

If it survives, I will have two nucs, the number I want.  Future swarms, if any, will go to a fellow beek.

It's swarm season!

A proud beekeeper

It is spring, so naturally much has been happening in the apiary.  I thought I would start with the above photo of a happy, young beekeeper working her hive.
All three hives now have two honey supers on and there is nectar in the top one.  It looks like there will be a good honey harvest this year.  If/when I put on a third box, the hives will be so high that working them will be difficult.  I am considering keeping the height under control by harvesting any boxes filled with capped honey through the summer.  We will see.  Olea's hive has its full complement of 22 bars.  All entrance reducers are out.
The pry scale works well, however, the hives are so heavy that the slat of wood that the scale presses against cannot withstand the pressure.  Back to the drawing board to.  I need some engineering help.
I have been wanting to make splits and therefore have gone into the hives more than once looking for suitable frames.  Alas, no joy.  I have seen healthy brood patterns but no eggs, on different occasions because there was not enough light, it started to rain or I just can not see them.  A neighbor who is interested in beekeeping has joined me on these attempts.
One day the bees were unusually defensive chasing us when we were outside.  It was a hot day, 80 degrees, and being overheated and overcrowded are two reasons why bees are defensive.  That is when I put a second super on each hive.  They have not been aggressive since, but that does not prove crowding was the cause.
Eight days ago, Olea and I were looking into #3.  We saw the queen laying eggs and a swarm cell.  I considered possible actions and decided to let them swarm and do my utmost to capture them.  I set up a bait box in its usual place.
Then, a few days later, a swarm came from the trees behind the house across the street and clustered at the top of Paul's oak tree.  The next day the cluster was gone, whither to, a mystery.  (Not my bait box.) 
Yesterday, when I went out to mow the lawn, Olea's hive swarmed.  I saw them flowing out of the hive, like orientation flights but magnitudes greater.  I was excited to see this for the first time.  They clustered on the fence next to Paul's.  The bulk of the cluster was beneath the stringer.

I mowed the lawn, giving the cluster a chance to settle in.  Then I brushed to bees into a nuc box with its door blocked, set the box by the fence and waited  a while to be sure the queen was in the box (the bees would leave the box if she were not and re-cluster around her). 

Then I put the lid on and carried the box across the yard to the "potting shed" where the nucs usually live.  I put in five frames, two with scraped foundation, two new foundation and one foundationless.

I put the lid on and unblocked the door. 

At the door of their new home

They were still in the nuc this morning and they had started house cleaning.  I could see debris below the hive.  There were still a few bees hanging around the cluster site as the smell lingers for some time.

Hive #3 has not yet, to my knowledge, swarmed.