It's swarm season, for certain!
Over the winter I lost two colonies. One, #2, was always weak and just died out. #1 had been my strongest colony, but it died due to mismanagement. When I harvested honey in the fall, I assumed there was enough left for the bees. I neglected to monitor, and when I returned from a trip to Seattle, I found them all dead. They had starved.
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| The pile of dead bees inside the hive |
So, I was down to two colonies.
On March 11, I saw a good-sized swarm in the yard. I believe it had been cast from one of my hives. It settled on the fence by the Elericks ("What's and Elerick?) and I was able to brush it into a box and hive it in #2. Then two days ago, our neighbor knocked and told me that there was a swarm in front. Another good sized swarm was flying between our yard and Paul's. It may have come from one of my hives, but possibly not. It finally settled in our yard on the Cecil Brunner. #1 hive colonized!
Then yesterday, one of my hives cast an after swarm. I figure it was from my hives because it was in our yard and an after swarm because it was on the smaller side. It settled in the Eureka lemon tree. It's now happily ensconced in a nuc box.
If there's another swarm, I probably will offer it to my neighbor or another beek. Or maybe a second nuc.
