# Caught this one in my yard. free bees!



## Joe Mac (Jun 1, 2016)

That's a good looking mess of bees. Unusual for this time of year. I wonder if they absconded from the parent hive for some reason? I've seen hot weather swarms before but mostly baseball size. If you are in a dearth like we are here is south AR, they will be in starvation mode, unless you pour the syrup to them.


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## jcolon (Sep 12, 2014)

I fed them about 3 quarts and they are building up quickly. Flow have passed but we are green and still clover and other minor food sources our there. Indeed unusual in this heat I thought. And very big too. My hives have somewhat shrunk in the last couple of weeks. Beautiful banded queen got right to work immediately.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

Is that a bird off to the right? It thinks it just won the lottery.


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## jcolon (Sep 12, 2014)

Picture three? is a bee close to the lens


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Nice catch!


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## Farmercal (May 19, 2015)

Nice Catch.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

jcolon said:


> Picture three? is a bee close to the lens


I wondered about that, but wow, perspective. Makes it look like a King Kong bee.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

That is a typical compression swarm where a colony got so jammed up with honey and the queen had filled the hive with brood and bees that they decided to swarm after the main flow. I've seen it a few times when I didn't get enough supers on fast enough. That one looks to be about 5 or 6 pounds of bees which is a pretty good swarm.


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## jcolon (Sep 12, 2014)

Yes, I estimated 6 pounds. They have pulled several foundationless frames and they queen is laying in every cell she can find. I am feeding and they are taking it faster than I can keep up with. I expect this one to be massive going into winter.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Have caught a few of the "late swarms" that are in the 6 pound range and you'll for sure be feeding them. You can get them into double deeps quick because they'll slam the first deep in no time. Nice catch!


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