I tried. I really tried. I soooooooo wanted them to want me. I put out a cardboard box and a brand-new starter hive.
I watched and waited.
And then I watched some more.
I tried to entice them with a fresh batch of sugar water.
I’ve read that when bees swarm they send out designated scouts to look for new digs. Apparently, they weren’t checking ME out.
After two days, they were gone. If anyone out there has a suggestion as to what I can try the next time I find a honeybee swarm in my garden, please tell all!
My beekeeper husband suggests using some old brood comb in the new hive box. Even so many times the bees decide to move on. Before they swarm they fill themselves up so they’re not hungry. One of his older colonies threw four swarms already this spring, very unusual. He was only able to capture two of them.
I love the new beehive, better luck next time.
That is so weird! It seems odd that the hive and sugar water was not enough to entice them to set up home. I must say that was an impressive swarm in your garden too. I guess it just goes to show us that there is more to be learned about how and where honey bees choose to set up their new hives. “You can lead a bee to a hive, but you can’t make it go in”? Sort of like the horse and water issue? If you learn of reasons why this happened, be sure to let us know because I am curious myself as to what happened.
It is my understanding that the bees have already scouted out their new home before they swarm. So, unless you catch them and “force” them into a new hive they already know where they are going to go when they leave. Luckily this year our swarming bees first gathered in a nearby shrub and we saw them quick enough that we were able to cut the branch and put them in a cardboard box until a new hive could be ordered and set up for them. Been in their new home for 2 weeks and all looks good!
News Flash Mary Jane!!! My FIRST baby Mason Bee hatched this morning. So tiny and cute he/she was. Now, per instructions, all of the cocoons have been taken out of the hatching netted sac and placed in the back of the house behind the reed housing tubes so that they all can fly out of the tiny hole in the back of the BeeHouse and start their work. I have been watching them everyday and nothing seemed to change. It took 24 days from when I placed the cooled cocoons outside in their hatching sac in the back of their little BeeHouse.
WooHoo Winnie! Congratulations are in order.
It’s unusual they are on the ground like that. If you could have found the queen and gently, so as not to hurt her, put her in your hive box, the rest will follow. It’s amazing to watch. I’ve done it twice when they are on the ground. She was probably under that clump. There is a bee brush you can use to gently move the bees aside to see if she is under there. Good luck next time.