We caught the first swarm of the season on Monday night. It was 18ft up in a bush – and I had to use an extension to my long pole (used for painting) to get the box up there. Luckily Dennis (whose garden it was) had an additional 3 poles which I used to extend my pole as well as get the smoker up there!
The photo looks as though I am trying to catch the sun!
Having inspected the hives on Saturday, Faith is still very weak and I somehow doubt will come through as I have now tried to re-queen her twice. We therefore decided to call this swarm “Hope” to keep the spirit of our three first hives – Faith, Hope and Charity. The original Hope and Charity died off in 2005, but Faith has kept going since then. Oh – and it was luck that the place that we caught the hive in started with an H – so we stuck to the Bee Law of naming the hives from the first letter of the place that they were caught!
I can learn from you about catching swarms! My dad is now a Swarm Catcher!!
Wow catching swarms, I made this free software: http://mellificium.com, what do you think about?