Self Hiving Swarm of Honey Bees May 6th, Moving into an empty hive on their own.

I always try to keep my empty hive equipment ready for new residents.
You may be surprised at how quickly the old comb and hive body scents can get the attention of swarm scouts.
Out with old and in with the new.
Thanks for watching!
TheWayToBee.org

[@russellaymond312]

Thank you for another great one Fred

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you so much for watching, and taking a moment to comment! :)

[@kimberlypaulson4545]

Thank you for inviting us to the swarm landing arrival party!

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you for stopping by to watch and listen :)

[@jenjohnson2984]

I have to keep reminding my husband to keep the basement doors closed so we don’t have a swarm moving into stored equipment! Almost happened last year.

[@FrederickDunn]

A very common incident, store gear in garages, barns, and sheds. They make great swarm collectors :)

[@NicoleNoneYaBeezwax]

This is soooo cool !!

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks Nicole!

[@timlewis5096]

I find this a peaceful, relaxing video. Thanks for airing it

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you so much for watching, and taking a moment to comment! :)

[@mbgal7758]

Always super convenient when they move in on their own and you don’t have to get them off a tree

[@FrederickDunn]

And, you know that they want to "bee" here :)

[@Huntnlady7]

@@FrederickDunn Groan

[@628DirtRooster]

Elizabeth was just telling me last night that she wants to make some dandelion salve. I said good luck, there are probably three dandelion flowers in our yard. Haha Skyward facing slow motion videos of swarms always mesmerize me. Great video catch!

[@FrederickDunn]

Hi Randy! Just tell Elizabeth that I have acres of them and she's more than welcome to come and fill her baskets! You are both always welcome here :)

[@Darren_Nicola]

Great video Fred ,

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks, Darren!

[@Huntnlady7]

That's wonderful content; I enjoyed watching that. The robbers turned scout and brought the swarm home. They showed up on May 6 to box 6; must be the Route 66 colony. You'll have to keep an eye on those robbers from afar though; they'll need to prove their worth to establish a place in the Dunn Apiary.

[@HOPEbus]

Totally appreciate ur time in makinh these video . ❤️🙏🏽🐝

[@FrederickDunn]

I'm so glad!

[@marie-louisewcislo6519]

Greetings from southern Ontario! Your winning combination of superb photography skills and love of bees is just wonderful. In the close up shots, I am pleased to easily be able to identify the pollen sacks, the many drones and the fanning and abdominal waving of the “Here is Home” bees. In the beautiful and lyrical slow motion shots, which I call “Bee Ballet”, you can appreciate the flight paths, the behaviours, the order and symmetry of this wonderful highly co-ordinated organism. I like choosing one bee and following it until it disappears from view. Thank you for this fascinating and valuable insight into the amazing world of these wonderful creatures. Marie-Louise

[@FrederickDunn]

Hi Marie-Louise, your excellent comment made it worth the effort. Thank you :)

[@kennith.]

Looks like a decent size swarm. Still amazes me how bad bees are at flying. They can collect nicely at a bidvac location but were landing in the grass while self hiving. Thanks for sharing.

[@hillkid4mountains]

In watching the first 45 seconds into your video, you can tell it is a swarm coming in it and you state it is from a different area other than your own yard or apairy. The few bees at the entrance are fanning their pheromones from the glands at the end of the abdomens. Clearly telling all those in the air that this is were we want to make our new home. Will finish watching the rest of your clip wondering if you noticed any scouts bees flying around checking that robbed out boxes in the days prior to this. Thanks for the talk and catching the footage of them going in at this moment of time. 🐝

[@FrederickDunn]

Yes, my wife had been noticing the scouts coming and going for the past two days. Lots of activity about an hour prior to the swarm arrival. Thanks for commenting!

[@CraigInNC]

Enjoyable, educational/informative. The slowmo was mesmerizing. Thank you for posting! A great March in too.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you so much :)

[@g.sutherland2917]

That's awesome Fred. I walked out to my Apiary last Friday around 4:30 Just in time to watch a swarm moving into an empty hive I had. Sat down and watched the hour long show. It was great. After yesterdays inspections I can confirm they did not come from one of my hives, and the swarm was much larger than I thought. I must have caught the tail end of the show. In three years of beekeeping I have only caught 1 swarm in my 6 traps I put out every year, but I have had 3 swarms move into an empty hive in my apiary in the last 2 years. If I have an empty hive I bait it. If all 7 are full I set up a new hive. lol.

[@FrederickDunn]

I am more and more convinced that just cleaning out the deadouts, and putting them right back together in the apiary is a great way to attract a new colony. :)

[@14623carolanne]

No self hive swarms for me! Put the empty hives out for my own beez....Great viedo!

[@FrederickDunn]

I am already at over 100% occupancy here, and May has just begun. Now we can be choosey :)

[@14623carolanne]

I'm at 13 same as you were when I started watching Way to Bee...Still only want two hives. Bee math go figure lol

[@Huntnlady7]

@@FrederickDunn Same here. Too much work around the County, but if I happen to encounter a good colony I'd better get to work building some more hives.

[@jamestownsendjrtbees3226]

Cool video Fred. I love the slow motion. One of my colonies swarmed today, a big one. I found them around 5 after work and got them back in the apiary by dark. Swarms are fun.

[@FrederickDunn]

I'm so glad you were able to get them :)

[@nancynolton6079]

What I noticed is the number of bees with wax hanging out their wax glands that are fanning at the entrance!

[@FrederickDunn]

If you look closely, that's likely light-play on their abdomen hair. I thought the same at first.

[@jessicafairfax_Bens_Bees]

Thanks for sharing 😁👍🐝💜 great video

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks for watching, and for leaving a comment :)

[@thegr8stm8]

The Fourth was with you on the Sixth…😉🍻

[@FrederickDunn]

:)

[@dixsigns1717]

I truly enjoyed this, relaxing before bedtime. Thank you, Fred.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you so much for watching, and taking a moment to comment! :)

[@BrianJMader54476]

Very interesting

[@sharonparsons8997]

I enjoy your presentations so much, this was a very special treat. Thank you ❤

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you so much, Sharon! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

[@brewman1drummer]

Same thing happen to me this year, dead out i didn't get cleaned up is now full of bee's! Good Stuff!

[@FrederickDunn]

I think many of the "old untouched hives" that people come across have likely been through many repopulation cycles just like this. Thanks for commenting, and I'm glad you also had some volunteers :)

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

I had several do that this year. Thanks Fred!

[@FrederickDunn]

If only all swarms would just do this while we sit and observe them :) Glad you're having a great year, Rodney!

[@saintjohncoleman8602]

The nasonov action, the full pollen baskets and the drones really give away the self hiving vs a robbing situation… FREE BEES!

[@FrederickDunn]

Absolutely :) And not just "free bees" but bees that volunteered to be here :)

[@oneshoo]

It’s amazing Fred how much pollen was entering that hive!

[@FrederickDunn]

Bonus that those foragers came along. Since this hive is full of drawn comb, they will be in rapid production.

[@Steele_Wings]

I was blessed this year with a self having swarm. It was huge. They are making lots of honey. 2 deeps and 3 mediums. Having drawn comb makes the difference.

[@FrederickDunn]

Yes! And these early prime swarms often do produce a honey surplus just as you've described. Thanks for sharing.

[@illumi-Nate]

That looks like a huge swarm!! Awesome!! Swarms are my favorite part of beekeeping

[@FrederickDunn]

Now I need them to settle in so I can replace all of this woodenware. :) Definitely a worthwile colony.

[@alyb731]

How lovely! 🇬🇧

[@highlandhoneybee]

Nice! I love it when that happens. I had a basketball-sized swarm move into an empty topbar hive last week. Wondering if it could have been from one of my neighbour's hives, though he lives just over a mile (2 km) away.

[@DanangAlta]

I melt my old honeycomb down and filter it for safekeeping into miniature 12 once wooden barrels. Now to fill the 12 oz barrel it took all ten frames from a Langstroth Deep box. Today, I warmed it up just enough turn it into liquid again, then took a paintbrush to it and coated the exterior of the hive to preserve the raw wood. After the brush application, follow up with mild/low heat from a propane torch, heat gun, or a hair dryer to bake it into the grain, just enough to flash-over without dripping to give the hive a deep watertight seal. The wood grain will absorb it like a dry sponge. Cheers from Texas

[@FrederickDunn]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing what you're doing.

[@abstract1dea]

I caught four swarms this season with this. Only one colony survived the winter so I out out some frames from a dead out in the other hives and they became occupied over the next several weeks. I missed seeing it but they're all pretty happy so far. Maybe it was the swarm commander. Maybe it was the bee scent already there.

[@FrederickDunn]

I think this likely happens more often than many keepers know. I'm glad your losses are being restored. :)

[@chuckt7636]

I had one swarm a week ago and one today. The one today is huge (30,000+), unfortunately it's 35' up in a tree behind my garage on a neighbors property. Keeping bees in a city is rough. I'm only allowed 2 hives I have 3. I can't hive any more swarms and so far no one is interested in a swarm 35' up in a tree. Last year I was lucky and added supers in time but this year they built up so fast. I keep Buckfast bees, they always build up real early. I'm about to give 2 hives away and set up a 2 colony resource hive. It is such a rewarding hobby but.......

[@FrederickDunn]

I hope you posted it on BeeSwarmed.org there may be someone who has a high reach system.

[@Huntnlady7]

@@FrederickDunn that system is at little glitchy right now.

[@FrederickDunn]

@@Huntnlady7 That's interesting, what were the issues you had with it? I hope you reported it to the site owner so he can address whatever it was. :)

[@jawharp9467]

This was my bee fix for the day. As my bees were cold and wanted to stay dry.

[@quantumfieldcoach]

I just LOVE our honeybee keepers. Thank you for helping us eat and taking care of these beauties for our continued survival and thriving! Hey did you know that Seed research is studying Bee Microbiome to help solve their dying off!? Their probiotics are amazing too. I admire them.

[@Huntnlady7]

You've been listening to a bit too much radical leftist doomsday propaganda. Honeybees are NOT dying off, now that we've addressed neonicotinides and their role in Colony Collapse Disorder. FUN FACT: Honeybees are not native to the Americas.

[@guiart4728]

I think that they like it. Now if they could just gain some carpentry skills you could say ‘job done’! Seriously this is cool real time reporting and video! I see lots going in with pollen. Are these random foragers joining the party?

[@FrederickDunn]

There are often pollen foragers that are arriving at the colony just as they depart, so they depart with them. BUT, you also do get foragers that just seem to volunteer to join a new swarm. It's interesting for sure.

[@brianbennett4374]

That's Great. 😊 Thanks for sharing 👍 I hope this happens 4 me lol.

[@FrederickDunn]

I do too!

[@Ricardo_Veteran]

Sometimes I have seen some bees come to my back yard foraging (they love my flowering sage plant), how far can their hive can be from my back yard. I live in a small town North of Dallas.

[@FrederickDunn]

The very general foraging limit is 3 miles from the hive in every direction.

[@vytbbb7146]

Can you do an update about your carniolan hive? Do you see any difference compared to your other colonies?

[@FrederickDunn]

As of May 7th, they are building right on par with the others I keep, also low varroa at the moment.

[@enricotoesca3941]

🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@baohiep978]

Does the swarm (w/ queen) leave the hive when the queencell is capped? or when the virgin queen hatches? or when the virgin gets back from her mating flight?

[@mbgal7758]

The swarm typically leaves a couple days before the new queens start hatching.

[@FrederickDunn]

By the time the queen cells become capped, the resident queen is departing, or has already swarmed away. That's the norm, there are always variables. This gives emerging virgin queens more acceptance from the resident workers.

[@Huntnlady7]

Good question @baohiep978 Think about it; if the virgin queen hatches out, a royal battle would ensue. Kind of defeats the whole purpose for perpetuating the colony. The old queen departs when the queen larvae are capped.

[@mjhabitat6437]

the stream team needs your help ! please !

[@FrederickDunn]

I think those guys are doing just fine without me :)

[@jeffdixon9138]

Queen at 18:42-45 ? Still new to this

[@FrederickDunn]

Hi Jeff, I think at that point the queen is already inside. There are several drones in that sequence, so I think that's what you may be seeing.

[@sonofthunder.]

one if my swarm traps fell about 8 ft,branch knocked it down,anyway ill be checking them soon,theres always stuff to do ,I made another long stand,hold 5or 6 colonies....guess what ive been telling everyone bees dont make circles or cylinders,that transform into hexagons ,but on Google theres a ongoing study saying the very beginning of each cell is circular, just off the trihedral inverted pyramid and only for seconds to minutes ,of course impossible to see ,in the uk. they show 2 photos saying the wax is somehow heated and viscous, and I guess magically turns hex,more defined as the cell is drawn out,im not sure ,theres this whole comparison to squished bubbles,and surface tension, funny no one mentions the 3 sided pyramid base,so I guess there is some circular beginings ,but certainly not stacked cylinders, see if you can find a peer reviewed study???cool video btw😊

[@FrederickDunn]

However the hexagonal cells "begin", their six-sided walls as they are drawn out have nothing to do with the bubble theory, and everything to do with the specific anatomy of the wax building bees. You only have to look at the cells on the edges of the comb to know that they have no other cells that would be required to prove the "bubble" theory. And, if that's not enough, look at paper wasp nests, also hexagons and they aren't made with warm wax. (';')( ';')... I also don't know why some people need for that to be true...