# The awesome spectacle of a swarm when it launches



## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

I walked out one morning to witness two of mine swarming and stood a few yards from the hives. It was quite a sight and almost a humbling feeling as the air filled with bees. Not that I want any more swarms but I'd love to experience that again.


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## cohutt (Feb 13, 2017)

Ravenseye said:


> I walked out one morning to witness two of mine swarming and stood a few yards from the hives. It was quite a sight and almost a humbling feeling as the air filled with bees. Not that I want any more swarms but I'd love to experience that again.


My kid neighbor (11 years old) was already suited up and on his way over to help with the split and got to see it. Ear to ear grins on both of us.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

On two occasions I've had swarms move in while I was strapping a box in place, it's a thrill.


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

rome is the farthest north i heard a swarm report for this season cohutt. just curious, were you supplying syrup to that colony?


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## cohutt (Feb 13, 2017)

squarepeg said:


> rome is the farthest north i heard a swarm report for this season cohutt. just curious, were you supplying syrup to that colony?


A little in Dec / January, under 2 quarts total plus a small patty of Fondant. 

My geography is a little deceiving. I'm North Georgia but not in the mountains, which are in the central and eastern part of the north. Rome is in a wide flat river valley in the ridge/valley system between the Appalachians and the plateaus to the north and west of us. Whereas most of Atlanta is above 100 ft elevation, downtown Rome is about 640. A couple of our ridges reach 1100 or 1200 but most of the county is closer to 700. 
Technically we are zone 7b but some patterns give us seasons more akin to zone 8.


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## RBRamsey (Mar 1, 2015)

SP,

I help catch a swarm yesterday on Hokes Bluff, about 10 miles from me. It was a very large swarm, 8-10 lbs. There were so many bees in the colony, that I couldn't even tell they had swarmed. They had 8 capped queen cells, and 6 uncapped cells. No virgins emerged yet. 

My hives are loaded with capped drone cells, and I am seeing drones in the hive.


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

thanks cohutt and rbr. looks like rome and hokes bluff are roughly the same latitude. i appreciate the heads up.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

I have seen two swarms enter my traps. I was standing right under them looking for the queen which I did not see on either. I watched the scout bees for one of them for two hours and the swarm came in at exactly 2:00 pm which was the time I had set for myself to be done watching. It doesn't work all the time though. I once set in a lawn chair for the whole day watching scouts checking out two traps that were ten feet or so from each other. I saw about 150 bees come all at once and do the figure 8 oreintation on the tree at the same time but the swarm never moved in.

Cheers
gww


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## cohutt (Feb 13, 2017)

squarepeg said:


> thanks cohutt and rbr. looks like rome and hokes bluff are roughly the same latitude. i appreciate the heads up.


Yes. Hokes Bluff is right down the Coosa river in the same the great big flat valley as Rome, just 30 or 40 miles away and maybe 50 feet closer to sea level...


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

Swarms! Don't talk about swarms. High of 12 Saturday and a low of 4 last night. Swarms. Yeah Right.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

I'd really like to see a swarm as they move into my bait hive. I caught one last year, but I was at work when actually moved in.

I did watch my hive issue a swarm 2 years ago. That was amazing. Jaw dropping, speechless amazing, but mostly because I had no idea what they were doing at the time.

Just curious--how frequently do bees sting during swarm issue and swarm move-in? I'm guessing very infrequently, but I've only been doing this a couple of years now.


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## cohutt (Feb 13, 2017)

IAmTheWaterbug said:


> Just curious--how frequently do bees sting during swarm issue and swarm move-in? I'm guessing very infrequently, but I've only been doing this a couple of years now.


I've always suited up when recapturing them but I never felt like they gave a rip about me- all hyper focused on the queen. It is like they don't even notice you are there shaking them off of a branch or whatever.

But my experience including this swarm is a total of 4, so I'm no expert by any means.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

I've never been stung during a move in or when they've first landed on a bush or tree. I've had them get a bit testy if they'd been hanging around for a few days. Nothing to defend during a swarm but an empty belly will make most of us grumpy.


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