In order to prevent swarming and keep my bees at home, I did the logical thing. By the end of last week, I had split each of my hives into two parts. And because I wanted local queens, I made simple walkaway splits, assuring both halves had eggs and young larvae. I didn’t worry about […] Read more
Every year I put swarm traps in the trees and place bait hives around the property. Most years I catch two or three swarms, sometimes more. So far this season I’ve captured two, both swarms from my own hives. But yesterday I happened to notice other things in my traps. The lizard below is apparently […] Read more
Your first swarm is soooo exciting! Ken Rhodes of Idaho Falls built a little platform for his swarm trap in the crotch of a large tree. Then, while he was at work, his very first swarm moved in. Ken’s son, Jeffrey, was lucky enough to witness move-in day and caught the action on his cell […] Read more
Just after midday on Monday, a swarm lifted from the hive that sits in the shade of our pump house. I often wonder what the bees think of water pumps cycling at all hours, but they don’t seem to care. The colony that lives there usually winters well, builds up fast, and produces lots of […] Read more
Last Saturday I spent the day participating in a BioBlitz as a “bee specialist.” My friend Glen Buschmann from OlyPollinators roped me into this duty and it turned out to be fun. During a BioBlitz, groups of citizen scientists record all the species they can find in a specific area in a set amount of […] Read more
It was exactly nine days ago that my hive number four threw a gigantic swarm that landed in a fir tree. Today was exactly the same. After several days of cold and rainy weather, today dawned bright and warm. This time I was weeding my pollinator garden when I heard the unmistakeable sound of a […] Read more
After spending four cold nights swinging from a Douglas-fir, my errant charges have returned. Watching them reminded me of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Requiem: Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill. These are the bees I told you about earlier in the week, the ones that swarmed just […] Read more