Catching my first swarm!

The tractor that I use to mow our lawn has been broken down for the past few weeks so the grass in our yard has gotten out of hand.  This fox appeared a couple of evenings this week hunting voles in the backyard.

He spent quite a while searching around.

Here you can see the long fluffy tail.

I went to check my bees today for what I thought would be a quick routine inspection.  As I approached the hives I heard loud buzzing and realized it wasn't coming from the hive boxes.  I saw a large cloud of bees buzzing around a bush about 30 feet from the hives and then saw the large ball of bees hanging on a branch about seven feet up.

I think that they had swarmed out of my strong hive just minutes before I found them.  When I first saw them there were a lot of airborne bees but after I left to get a new hive box and came back five minutes later, there were far fewer bees in the air and they were almost all in this large ball.  I put the hive box under the ball as best I could and wanted to cut the branch with one hand and hold the swarm with the other, but the branch was too thick to cut with one hand.  I tried to cut it part way with large clippers, but it broke off in the process and fell, dumping the bees half in the hive box and half on the ground.

I put some frames with foundation in the box hoping the smell of beeswax would help draw them in.  I noticed that the bees on the ground were moving into the box so I just left them alone for a while.

Here the bees are moving into and onto the box from the ground.  There are bees on the hive entrance fanning their wings to spread enticing pheromones to attract the other bees in.

 This frame is from the hive I split off two weeks ago, this being the box that did not get the queen.  The large open cell near the top right of the frame as I hold it here is, I hope, an open queen cell.  I looked for a queen but didn't see here, but, then, I almost never am able to find the queen when  I look for her.

This is a frame from the other hive that had the queen, though this is surely the hive that swarmed taking the old queen away.  This is a frame that appears to be new brood comb by its light tan color, surrounded by capped honey cells.

This by contrast is old her brood comb that is somewhat darker.  You can see the drone brood -- the extended cells along the top of hte frame here.  I did see several drones while I was going through this hive.

There are several queen cells hanging off of the bottom of this frame of capped brood, pollen and honey.  The queen cells are the peanut shaped cells on the bottom of the frame.  This hive had several frames with multiple queen cells so is well equipped to replace the queen that left.  In fact, I took one of those frames and put it in one of my new "nuc" boxes to make a small hive to raise a queen in case the other hive doesn't have one.

This is uncapped larva surrounded by capped honey in the same hive.

This my new hive configuration after the days work was done.  I've gone from one hive two weeks ago to three full size hives and a nuc, though of course all of the full size hives are somewhat weak, with the two at the left without confirmed or laying queens currently.  The "nuc" or nucleus hive, is the small unpainted box in the middle.  The hive that had swarmed is in the box on the right.  They all entered the hive while I was working on the other hives, and seemed to have quieted down nicely.  I certainly hope that they say.  I put feeders on the two split hives without queens as they seemed the two weakest of the the three.

Things are blooming!

I took a walk in my woods this weekend to see if there were any mushrooms up.  I didn't find any mushrooms but did get a chance to take some pictures of wild flowers.  These bluebells grow in a small area along the creek at the base of a steep hill.

I'm not sure what these flowers are called but they were blooming here and there at the base of the hill below the house.

Again, I don't know what this flower is called.  They were blooming near the blue flowers above.

/These white flowers were blooming in a mossy area closer to the creek.

Of course, violets are blooming everywhere.

The Jack in the Pulpit plants grow all through our woods.  This one was growing along the creek near the bluebells.

This large waxy leafed plant was growing near the creek too.  Not sure what it is either.

Red bud trees were blooming along the creek.

If you look close you can see some minnows swimming in the creek here under a rock ledge.  They blend in well, though.

These daffodils come out later than most.  Most of my daffodils are fading now.  These grow with two or three blooms on each stem.

The lilacs are in full bloom and at their most fragrant.  You can smell them as soon as you come out of the front door.

This red delicious apple tree is covered with blooms htis year and very fragrant when you stand among the branches.  My bees and several other pollinating insects were working this tree busily this weekend.

My cherry tree is also in bloom.  I had thought that my peach tree would not bloom at all this year, but it does have several blooms here and there among the foliage, though they seem to have opened later than usual and I don't know if they will produce any fruit.

My rhubarb plants continue to grow well and are even trying to send up some flower stalks this year.  I broke these stalks off so that the plant wouldn't waste too much energy on flowers and seeds that I would rather it put into roots and leaves.  My asparagus plants have been producing this Spring and we have enjoyed some fresh asparagus with supper.

My concord grape vines all have leafed out nicely and seem to be doing well.  They can stand some pruning, which I should do soon (and should have done before now.)

These marquette grape vines are even farther along than the concords, as they break bud and leaf out a little earlier.  These plants are also doing well.  I was concerned that the unusually cold winter would have damaged the grape vines but I don't see any major losses.

I did get a chance to work my bees on Sunday.  The weak hive had finally died out after struggling all Spring.  I had hoped that it would continue to limp along and I was planning to strengthen it with some brood from my other hive, but I waited too long.  I did, though, split my strong hive.  I ended up just splitting the hive evenly.  I had intended a more directed split -- a "cut down" split that is aimed at more honey production.  But, to do that you need to find the queen, and I could not locate here.  I know she was there because there was lots of brood at all stages, but she is tough to pick out of the mass of milling bees.  The hive that got the old queen should continue to boom and produce some honey but the other hive will have to produce a new queen which will take three or four weeks.  There were lots of queen cups where the bees can grow a new queen so I'm not too concerned about their ability to produce one.