How To Catch & Re-home A Swarm Of Bees on September First, starting them with BetterComb.

[@JaneFeibelman]

That ending was so peaceful. I felt as though I slipped into a meditative state while watching and listening. Thank you for a wonderful video.

[@uknowho711129]

Thank you for the wonderful video. I learned so much!!!

[@dixsigns1717]

Another awesome video Mr. Dunn, thank you! I learned today that the bees take the nectar and do not uncap honey before they leave. Grandpa said "if you are alive you should learn at least one new thing every day... (smile)"

[@oksanabotsman6893]

And here we go another video no matter how many times you will watch this different stories about the bees let me tell you I can watch every single day about them what are incredible hard-working Bees ,when you start shooting videos in the beginning when the sun is lightening trew their bodies you can see through them like a little drops of Honey their bodies make them shiny and then when they back into too the house it will completely different shades of their color and how hard. They working and making so much noisy with their wings incredible , what an interesting idea to show the 2 day and they 3 day beag difference between them beginning and the end when they settle in .Thank you very much again for a great incredibly gorgeous video and a lot of learning keep up the good job and let's do more videos can wait for that. Stay healthy be happy Peace

[@larrylewis3573]

Dear Mr. Dunn, Just a note of thanks for bringing us, your followers, up-to-date on your new September1 swarm. It is good to hear that the new hive has settled in. Let me say that I very much appreciate the knowledge you share with us each step of the way. Absolutely wonderful for someone like me who has always liked the idea of bees and has had a overall appreciation of them, but, now I see, only a very superficial knowledge. Thank you for expanding my knowledge of these amazing little creatures. Lastly, I am always moved by the great care you take with the bees to ensure you don’t harm them. Sincerely, Larry Clarence Lewis, Canada.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you so much Larry!

[@UTsnowsailor]

Thank you for your videos. Always indepth and informative as well as beautiful to watch. I'm a better beekeeper because of you. Cheers!

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you for such a nice comment :)

[@georgegarcia5052]

After binge watching old favorites, like your videos on Flow Hives and Oxalic acid I kept thinking of the late season swarms that you’ve mentioned last year and this year. There is a theory of the importance of preventing a honey dome ... on the positive side, you use a honey dome in the place of queen excluder to keep the bees out of Flow Frames. When I get my Flow Frames in December, by using your discount code that you provide (with my appreciation) ... I’m planning to place the flow frames directly above the brood box in March (I’m in Los Angeles, the start of our spring flow) through September ... then in October through February going back to a box of honey directly above the brood nest. In other words, I’m going to use Flow Hive to perpetually keep the bees from thinking they don’t have resources directly above the brood to minimize swarming. This requires a queen excluder, of course, which you don’t use. Anyway, just thought I would share in appreciation for all the help you give ... maybe worthy of an experiment next year, if you have a particular hive that has sent out late season swarms yearly. Thanks!

[@roden70]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing this. Your videos are always so beautifully filmed.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you very much!

[@OG-Everthing]

Thank you so much Fred!...you find the way to give better and better videos every time ...it's a pleasure

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you!

[@shaunroberts9361]

This is so awesome to watch. I have found bees so fascinating since I have watch your channel.. it is so scary to think that if the bees where to leave that earth cannot live with our then... So people like you make sure this to happen...

[@timothywhitehurst2902]

Hi from Tampa, FL. Great video as always! The wife and I are four and a half months into bee life. We have three hives consisting of a medium honey super on a ten frame deep brood box. We added the supers a few months ago hoping the extra space would help avoid swarming. No such luck. Our most populous hive swarmed on Sep 2 and ended up thirty feet high in an oak tree in our back yard. We were unable to catch the swarm and the swarm is gone to who knows where. When we named our apiary “C’est la bee” we had no idea.

[@FrederickDunn]

Hi Timothy... and that's one of the aspects of beekeeping. You can do it all correctly, and in the end, they are still wild and have their own reproductive clock. I may have to buy a cherry picker for those high swarms! :)

[@nicoleandreazza850]

Thanks for the video I’m in Australia 🇦🇺 and gearing up to collect my first swarm any day now

[@danskisbees7348]

Good deal! You've just seen the master at work. 😀

[@FrederickDunn]

Hi Nicole, I hope your spring brings great things your way... I hope my videos have helped you prepare :)

[@absolutelyfearless9658]

A Bee Keeper By my area makes his own Nucs with ply wood and fills them w a few new frames and with a few old frames and puts them around his hives so when they eventually swarm he can make a new colony

[@RealMav1]

Hi Fred, Great video! This same thing just happened in my apiary. I have only a couple years of learning and experience with my bees 🐝. You are such an incredible resource for those of us who are nearly empty vessels needing to bee filled with the knowledge from years of experience . Thanks for all your efforts. I started with one nuc and now have eight colonies. Hoping for a successful winter for all my girls. Ric

[@FrederickDunn]

That's fantastic progress, and thank you so much! I'm glad to have been a part of your beekeeping education. :)

[@thegr8stm8]

Always amazing, Fred. You seem to be “Johnny on the spot” to be able to give a presentation in real time with appropriate follow-ups. So the apiary continues to grow... swarm by swam. I guess this could be another for your son and grandson. Cheers, m8!

[@FrederickDunn]

My Grandson was angry that I didn't wait for him to come out and be my "bee helper" (';')... ( ';')... he's serious about his beekeeping. He's 4 and gave the UPS man a complete run down on every part of a bee-suit and how it protects him etc. I was impressed.

[@aikiemarais6676]

Thanks for another impressive educational video Fred. I am not a bee person, but I do enjoy a really good video chock full of important information to somebody out there. I noticed at 21:26 a big black bee coming out of the hive and flying off. It seemed at least a third bigger than the other bees around it. What have I seen? Thanks again for the enjoyment I get out of your videos.

[@FrederickDunn]

That's a drone headed out on a mating mission...

[@Calypso4me]

This was Awesome & another lessened learned in regards to swarming events when the weeather is bad. Loved it!

[@kamonreynolds]

Wow big fall swarm there!

[@FrederickDunn]

Hey Kamon!!! Yep, and I hope it's the only one! But I'm staged and ready for more just in case.

[@Jerfish1]

Educational, calming, and a pleasure as always. I’m hoping my 2 first year Layens make the winter - one was 80% destroyed by a bear two months ago (June 29th) when my electric fence went down, and the queen was gone. They made a new queen from the two brood frames that remained, eventually saw some laying, and now are finally rebounding. I feel like they are a bit ahead of your swarm at this point at least, but am worried about their winter strength. I started seeing bearding in the last two weeks (after I learned from you what that is haha!), so I’m hopeful! I was fortunate to have a couple frames that stayed in the box and didn’t spill out, and that the bear left the other hive alone for some reason. Thank you for your videos, they help us new keepers so much.

[@CraigThorne]

They knew you were there to give them a new home.

[@wendybond2848]

I’m learning so much, thanks.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks for watching!

[@PilotMcbride]

Great stuff Fred. Thanks

[@lizimpey6338]

Love your posts. They are so informative. Thank you 👏👏👏😁

[@wayneshoneybees5439]

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@donbearden1953]

Fred, another excellent video! You always set the bar very high for the competition. The bees definitely look like they will be fine.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks Don, I think of it as a fellowship rather than a competition :) I am always happy to see your comments here and Happy Friday to you!

[@danskisbees7348]

Good morning Fred, nice job! The butterfly net sure does work well. Thanks for the treat at the end.

[@FrederickDunn]

Always great to see your comments Dan, have a great Friday!

[@robertmathurin739]

Am Late,,But here till the end,,,Happy Friday Mr Dunn 🇱🇨👊🏿👍🏿

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you Robert, the same to you!

[@mrmakaiwi]

So educational! Thank you Fred!

[@ronfults3844]

I've installed some slatted racks on most of my hives this year. I notice that the hives with the racks don't beard as much as the hives without. Only thing that would concern me is the old hive with the new queen. This late in the year in my experience the chances of getting her back from her mating flight becomes more difficult.

[@FrederickDunn]

All great concerns Ron, They have more than one queen cell to work with, we'll see how it goes.

[@ronfults3844]

@@FrederickDunn Please keep us updated on that hive. I would like to know how it pans out. I know you don't or at least I don't think you make your own queens. I always stop make ng queens after about mid July. My return from mating drastically declines after that time. Maybe my area, I'm not sure but I know my success rate goes way down after that time. I think alot has to do with dragon flies being much more abundant in my area. That swarm you had is probably one of the largest fall swarms I've seen. Looked more like a spring swarm. Must be a very healthy hive they came from. I think with the better comb, the fall nectar flow and a little tlc they should over winter very well. I probably would go ahead a treat for varroa before the queen starts laying. Should need only one treatment if you do it quick enough.

[@davidhorsley4657]

Nice. Thanks for posting. I keep a swarm box at hand , as well as a few frames of resources on drawn comb plus my propolis collection for rubbing inside the box for that "open house" smell bees like.

[@FrederickDunn]

Having a rapid deployment bench is very important in beekeeping. It makes life easier for sure! Thanks for watching and commenting David :)

[@namentatic4978]

Really nice and educative video. I am in Richmond, Va. And I have a single deep hive with ten frames of bees in. It is loaded. Could be smart to put one more deep box with foundation on top of it, or leave them as is through the Winter? Every comment is appreciated.

[@blainecolbry3192]

I love these, thank you.

[@donaldnelson5078]

I good had me worried I tarted using the copper mesh Thanks

[@FrederickDunn]

Copper is my favorite!

[@loveyahoney]

Just caught my first swarm for the spring in Sydney Oz. It was a small one.I added the box with newspaper layer on to a broodless hive that went through our mild winter.I see all the flow box's are off,are you settling them in for winter? Dave.

[@downunderfulla6001]

Awesome thanks 👌👌

[@MatthewJones555]

Hi Fred, as always, I'm fascinated by your videos. Thank you for making such good quality content. I have a question about swarms being hived near the hive they emitted from. In the video, you state that the new swarm is just 2 hives over from the hive it emitted from. In a previous video you've mentioned that there's a rule of thumb when moving a hive, I think it is something along the lines of "move the hive 2 feet, or 2 miles", so the bees can still find their way back. Seeing as these bees in the swarm have moved more than the 2 feet rule, will this be an issue for any of the bees in the new hive? Will they drift back to the old hive? I imagine that the bees that have never been out the hive before, like the nurse bees, will be fine, as they didn't know where the old hive was anyway, but what about the foragers? Will they get confused when they come back from foraging? If they don't have an issue finding the new hive, why does swarming make a difference to their ability to find their hive again? I'd love to see more videos about the bees ability to navigate. They're so impressive. Thanks again for the great videos!

[@gurukeerthy2855]

Amazing👍👍

[@Holdfast]

Hi Fred! I had the same thing happen 1 day before you. I am a first year bee keeper but managed to retrieve my swarm which was 20' up in a tree. I am working with all undrawn comb but I did have a frame of partly capped honey which I put in there. Hopefully that will help them think it is a bee home. Are you screens on to prevent mice entering the hive? Do you always have those on?

[@heidihol]

Just found you at random, I'm hooked on your videos! 👏 I know next to nothing about bees, so I'm curious why did they swarm to the tree from their hive box? Thanks!

[@tytorubio3271]

He said it in the beginning. Because there was a new queen coming. So the old queen left and the hive followed. I think so anyway.

[@jayglosser2014]

Great Video! One question, I noticed you use metal posts and metal crossover bars to put your hives on, why? Does this help control small hive beetle?

[@FrederickDunn]

Small hive beetles can fly, so the supports don't help with that. I like the T-Posts... here's my video about them kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKaqmXxtpKtroaM

[@5trau556]

That was amazing! Where are you located, I am looking 👀 to relocate to a new place and continue working with the greatest joy of my life 🧡

[@billc3405]

I have a question that came to me when you mentioned the hive cover Rvalue. Do you know if R value is lose or gained maybe unchanged with hive boxes hot wax dipped/treated. Thank you for your videos good luck with the swarm I. Sure you'll have success.

[@FrederickDunn]

Generally, paints, stains, and paraffin - even soaked in, has no measurable impact on material R-Value.

[@suzanneguiho4882]

Very good video...helps a lot to visualize and internalize this process. One question: The bees in the new location are all foragers, are they not? The queen lays and a new brood is in development. So logically I am understanding that some of the foragers need to go back to « nursing » . Thus the bees need to go through a sort of redistributing of their tasks. If that is correct, has there ever been a study on this subject to your knowledge. ex. Would it be the younger foragers that would go back to « nursing » tasks? My understanding is that all the nurse bees stayed in the original colonies, did not swarm because they cannot fly. I know That would be in the category of a detail with regards to the swarm, but this aspect I have never read or heard anything about it. This was a very well made video and I thank you.

[@FrederickDunn]

Yes, the youngest of the swarm would return to producing royal jelly and bee-bread which would be stimulated by the presence of new brood. Others also revert to in-house tasks such as comb building and cleaning. It's all very instinctive and in hive duties come first. On the flip-side, those left behind may graduate to outside duties faster than if there had not been a swarm. They are going to maintain a natural balance and distribution of labor based in in-hive demands and environmental resources.

[@suzanneguiho4882]

Frederick Dunn Beautifull! I think maybe humans could learn from the bees in this regard....!.....maybe.....??? Oh! Maybe not...bees don’t decide according to the ego...they don’t have one...only do what needs to be done. Good life lesson I would think! Oh! And another thing...the need of the community trumps the individual gratification....their survival depends on it! Maybe the feminist could reflect on that....just a thought.

[@_J.F_]

Thanks for another very interesting video. I always find the late swarms tricky to deal with as I am usually prioritising getting my colonies ready for winter this time of year. The actual swarm you can of course always baby through this period, supplying them drawn comb and feeding them syrup, pollen substitute, and supplements, to get them going in no time at all, but what about the donor colony? You mention yours having plenty of stores, and plenty of brood, but it will still be around two weeks before the virgin queen will get mated, and then another three weeks before any new bees emerge, which would be very late in the season where I live to start building up a colony for winter. Would you not consider supplying your donor hive with an already mated and laying queen, just to give it a head start and make the most of your current honey flow?

[@FrederickDunn]

Yes, installing a mated queen would result in the fastest recovery for that colony. Last year I had swarms as late at the 15th of September (five in all), they were not provided with mated queens and all came through winter very well much to my surprise. If you are in an area where the nectar flow is ending, installing a mated queen is a very good idea.

[@mjgbabydragonlet]

This is really interesting!

[@66otnt]

Fred, how will the old hive produce a new queen? Will they make queen cells, feeding them only royal jelly etc. etc...?

[@FrederickDunn]

The old colony already has queen/swarm cells capped and ready to hatch out any day. This was a planned event on the part of the bees and barring the loss of the queen during her mating flight, it should be right back on track.

[@66otnt]

@@FrederickDunn Thanks Frederick for both the video and the answer. Cheers from Downunder!

[@beesybee8921]

Where you guys located so your hives are swarming in September ? Here in California we preparing for the winter final treatments for mites and preparing hives for pollen patties

[@FrederickDunn]

PA.... there is always a large buildup here in September.

[@mikeries8549]

How about tree to different tree to box to tree then different tree then a different tree then finally climb up and get them into a box at last. It took four days

[@mike-md]

I didn't see this question asked already, and hope it's not a dupe. It appears to me that a lot of the activity on day 2 of the new hive had bees 'launching' and flying around the front of the hive and returning to the landing board, would this be orientation flights?

[@FrederickDunn]

yes.

[@MajSolo]

that feromone gland must be very advanced since all hives can not use the same feromone I assume. Like a postal code? It has to produce the right molecules on order,

[@FrederickDunn]

unique to each queen

[@MajSolo]

@@FrederickDunn sorry I must heave misundestood ..... so the bees on the landing board is just faning the queens feromone ..??? I thought you showed the bees having the glands exposed .... if so they are reproducing the queens feromone? now I am confused .... if they are reproducing the queens feromone it is "on demand" and that gland is very advanced is my thinking. Lets get back to basics are they just faning her feromone?

[@bouvier1st1]

Can the bees detect the queens pheromone over thehoney b healthy scent?

[@FrederickDunn]

Great Question, and yes, they can detect both at once even when heavily sprayed.

[@Leelz247]

I have a few frames of drawn comb in my freezer that I can use in case my biggest hive swarms, I’m keeping my fingers crossed though that they don’t after I pinched off their swarm cells. I’m worried like you said about finding enough resources to survive winter not to mention leaving behind a severely weakened and potentially queenless colony. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t split them myself this late. I think I would transfer some frames of nectar from their old hive too just to make sure they have food.

[@danskisbees7348]

They have already decided that they are going to swarm. All you did by pinching the queen cells, is delay it, they are going to leave. If you want to keep them from swarming, you have to simulate a swarm by splitting the hive, move the queen with the split. I'd split them when you see larvae in the new queen cells. 🙂

[@FrederickDunn]

Great response Dan :)

[@danskisbees7348]

@@FrederickDunn Thanks Fred! 😀

[@Leelz247]

Dan Ski's Bees Well, in the meantime I did add more space and ventilation to the hive, as well as checker boarding frames to make sure the queen is not honeybound, in the hope they would “change their minds” about swarming, and the rains in the meantime have deterred them. I’ll check on it again today or tomorrow. Last month my mentor suggested not to split them since they are a first year colony and it’s better to go into winter with one large hive rather than two small ones. Sigh. It’s my first year, it’s hard to know where to draw the lines. When I described what I saw to a master beek in my local association, he thought swarming was NOT very likely to be the cause of the appearance of queen cells, but potentially to replace a defective queen. It’s hard to tell, I was judging based only on their placement near the bottom of the frame. Half the mentors said pinch the queen cells, have the mentors said not to, being a first year and not knowing what to expect is stressful 🤯

[@danskisbees7348]

@@Leelz247 Yeah, it's definitely hard to know what to do and just when you think you have it all figured out, the bees throw you a curve ball. 😀 You can take a class to become a Master Beekeeper, but it doesn't mean that you know what you're doing. You can also have been keeping bees for years, but it doesn't mean you've been doing it right. It's a good thing bees are able to thrive in spite of us. 😀 You're definitely keeping good company by watching this channel, Fred really pays attention to detail, you'll learn a lot. You're probably going to find that you will learn more on KZbin watching the right people than you will in bee club, but it's still nice to go to see what the bees are doing locally. Now you know how to delay swarming in the future. Did you read my reply on Fred's last video?

[@stevegomes6950]

Isn't queen pheromone is transmitted by physical contact, not through fanning (scenting)?

[@FrederickDunn]

Both.

[@TheRealFremmed]

So did you get any stings?

[@FrederickDunn]

zero... none... nodda :)

[@ytlongbeach]

so did the original hive leave cells with brood behind, and one of those could become the next queen with pheromones from the returning bees?

[@danskisbees7348]

Yes, before they leave, they fill up the broodnest with brood. That's why if you don't witness the swarm or have a marked queen, you don't even realize it happened. Also, the workers build special cells for the queen to lay eggs in to raise new queens. They're called queen cells, they're larger and resemble a peanut.

[@FrederickDunn]

There are already queens ready to hatch in the originating hive. They should hatch out within the next few days and get on with recovery.

[@ytlongbeach]

@@danskisbees7348 so the hives plan is to mostly return to the same hive after swarming? Why capture them, I'm presuming to create a second hive to grow? I guess you could lose the hive, if they volunteer to live somewhere else without the brood left behind.

[@danskisbees7348]

@@ytlongbeach No, Fred put the swarm in a new hive. The old hive will have plenty of bees once the brood that they left behind hatches. The bees that were left in the tree after Fred collected the swarm, if they don't find the new hive with the queen's scent, they will return to the original hive.

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

Good morning Fred. Great catch!!!! Is it normal this time of the year just before our fall flow to have a few bees be aggressive when you get near the yard? It's just 3 or 4. Thanks for the video!!!

[@FrederickDunn]

Actually, no. going into a nectar flow they should be on their best behavior. I would inspect that hive to determine it's disposition asap. :) I will mention this today!

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

@@FrederickDunn Thank you!!!

[@mbgal7758]

22:09 the landing board seems really dirty. Is that the bees still cleaning up the new space?

[@FrederickDunn]

Yes, they are cleaning up and modifying some of the frames/comb I installed with them.

[@donaldnelson5078]

I was wondering if there was a problem with the copper screen I see you’re using aluminum now

[@FrederickDunn]

Nope.. still using copper, the aluminum screens are still on some of my hives :)

[@beverlysteen]

I missed the link for the Butterfly net.

[@FrederickDunn]

I'll add that very soon!

[@samanthasimental3788]

Why do you have staps on the bee hives?

[@FrederickDunn]

to prevent them from being blown over during extreme weather. AND so raccoons can't pull the lids off.

[@samanthasimental3788]

@@FrederickDunn Wow! Did not think of that. Thank you. Love your videos.

[@etienneleprohon4580]

I had a swarm on the next day

[@angelacross2216]

Could you smell the scent coming off the bees?

[@FrederickDunn]

Nope... the air is so full of honey these days, their pheromone wouldn't stand out to me.

[@Theststackhouse]

PLEASE HELP!! I have a bee emergency, a bear got through my electric fence and rampaged my two colonies. One colony was completely disbursed but the other was only knocked over and rolled around. I have no idea if any or both queens have survived. I reassembled the brude nest on the hive that had been rolled. In an attempt to salvage the remaining resources, I took an additional deep box from the destroyed colony along with a few brude frames and honey on the outside. I don't think I have a chance at getting two colonies through winter with the amount of destroyed frames, but I'm nervous about the whole situation. The colony has two deep boxes and now the third from its neighboring colony. I do the right thing? Do you have any advice moving forward? I might puke!

[@FrederickDunn]

That's terrible news Shawn... your first order of business is that bear! If it gained access once, it had incentive to comb back and hit them again, generally within 48 hours. Putting the hives back together is the right move and also if you have them, close them up tight with shipping straps. I think you're in a pickle with that bear. Replace frames and equipment as much as you can.

[@Theststackhouse]

@@FrederickDunn thank you for responding, I agree with the danger of him coming back and I'm really disappointed with my "bear fence" I'm charging it's battery on the wall till dark, I don't think it had enough charge from solar. I repaired the fence so it will be "whole" again. That said, I made a change of course after writing. I waited 1.5 hrs and checked on them, tens of thousands were bearding the hive-stand, I was convinced these were the bees from the destroyed hive looking for their home, it was the stronger of the two and it was a very healthy hive. I couldn't allow that many of my children to succumb to the inevitable so I broke it back to two colonies and scooped the homeless into the top of that hive. My current situation one colony with a two deep brude nest that is essentially in tact minus the destroyed supers. The second colony has only one deep brude chamber 3 brude frames with the rest honey. I'm sure I could salvage 10 honey frames and add a medium super for winter. Dip thou think this colony has a chance or would it be better to build a single colony with the resources. No decision feels right!

[@14623carolanne]

Do I hear a queen quacking or is that a bird?

[@FrederickDunn]

It's possible, but I didn't hear any queen noises...

[@wadebarnes6720]

I have no drones in any of the other boxes and I have a bees that wants to swarm so that means what's Left behind is doomed unless I find a mated Queen

[@FrederickDunn]

There may be drones in congregation areas that you are unaware of Wade, but it does look dim if your own colonies are also not producing them.

[@MelTheHal]

Yknow I think there are bees in this video

[@Huntnlady7]

LOL, cracked me up!

[@justducky0]

that spruce is a money tree

[@framcesmoore]

why did they swarm

[@FrederickDunn]

They have a hive-mind of their own Frances :)

[@rogermoore7419]

First like first comment

[@rogermoore7419]

Your up late and so am I lol

[@nicoleandreazza850]

Haha I’m Australia so it’s afternoon here

[@rogermoore7419]

Funny I'm on the opposite side of the world.

[@thegr8stm8]

Roger Moore ... opposite side of the big pond...

[@thegr8stm8]

Nicole Andreazza ...must be east coast. Where exactly. I’m originally from Bellingen, NSW

[@nicoleandreazza850]

John McNeill Griffith NSW