swarm-list Mailing List: Re: Are you noticing anything out of the ordinary with this year's roll-out?

[Gerald Przybylski (gtp000000]

On 4/22/25 2:25 PM, Sverre Slotfeldt via swarm-list wrote:

Nice of you, Sung. 

Jerry (and everyone), I hear you about all of us doing better on inspections. Mea Culpa, in the past. These days, I'm monitoring my hives constantly.

However, although you're absolutely right, I'm reminded about the saying that swarms are bad for beekeepers, not for the bees.

Some of the swarms that escape us make it into the wild, where they get established and become local feral survivor stock.

And in big picture thinking, that's a good thing!

    Nice if they find a bee tree.  By the middle of the swarm season
    most of those opportunities are occupied, or they have been occupied
    for years.  
    So the bees seek out kitchen range vents, shed doors,  holes in
    walls where pipes were removed, trim and facia that came loose
    exposing a path into a stud bay, attic vents, crawl spaces,
    abandoned water heaters, wine barrels, sprinkler system vaults, pot
    stands, cabinets, outdoor speakers, piles of tires, decorative
    arch-ways, industrial buildings, industrial equipment, chimneys,
    framework under mobile-offices, and various other places that become
    Jobs for our fellow members who extract bees from structures. 
    The extent that we fool our bees into thinking they can't swarm, or
    already swarmed is the reduction in the impact they have on the
    community.  
    I don't want any swarms from our yard  to move into a neighbor's
    bedroom wall, or chimney. 
    By spring brood-box management, and splitting, we can keep our hives
    from swarming. 
    (for the general health of those colonies that were prevented from
    splitting, a queen replacement should be executed in the summer)

I'm not saying that we hobby beekeepers should not be vigilant in swarm management. I'm just pointing out that even when we screw up,

the bees are sorting it out for the benefit of everyone.

    At this time in the 'swarm season' there are swarms that are taking
    a looooong time to get a taker. It's a consequence of having so many
    swarm calls already that many of us are at our limit for keeping
    colonies. 
    Waiving good-bye to more swarms doesn't help us stay on top of the
    calls club members recover/rescue from the community.
    
    For years we've been leveraging off of and feeding drones back into
    the Feral/Wild bee community in our neighborhood.
    They contributed four swarms to our yard by moving into vacant
    equipment or bait-hives just this spring.  So we're pretty full-up

However, to be crystal clear, I echo your call for us beekeepers to proactively manage our hives during swarm season!

    TY

As a new swarm chaser, I want to use this opportunity to thank those of you who handle the calls and the list. You're volunteering, and with the recent

increase in volume of calls, it might have been more than you felt you signed up for. So all of you deserve recognition for doing this for the bees and for 

The Beekeeping Hobby. And you don't even get the benefit of keeping a swarm. So thank you every one of you. I should mention you all by name, but

I'm afraid I'd leave someone out. But you guys know who you are.

    TY on behalf of the crew

Finally, it feels great to participate. I'm mostly motivated by my wish to expand my apiary, and I just love swarms. But although we swarm chasers are perhaps not as altruistic

as the coordinators, we're still contributing in a significant way. I won't give such warm thanks to my fellow swarm chasers, 

but I will at least give you a nod or recognition and respect, how's that? 😄

Have great day, everyone, and here's to another productive swarm season!

Sverre

On Tue, Apr 22, 2025 at 9:15 AM Sung Lee via swarm-list <swarm-list [at] alamedabees.org> wrote:

Call me

I have Virgin Queens. 

5104143216

Sung Lee The Bee Charmer 

On Tue, Apr 22, 2025, 8:44 AM Bo Droga via swarm-list <swarm-list [at] alamedabees.org> wrote:

Hi Jerry,

I was wondering if you might be able to share a message with the Alameda Bee Association. Sadly, my queen bee has passed, and the hive is now without her. If anyone happens to have a virgin queen they could kindly spare or donate, it would mean a great deal.

I’m doing my best to help this little colony through a tough time, and any support would be deeply appreciated. Thank you for your support .

Cheers

Bo

On Monday, March 24, 2025, 2:18 PM, Gerald Przybylski via swarm-list <swarm-list [at] alamedabees.org> wrote:

The graph's horizontal axis is truncated at April 2, and shows the roll-out of swarm calls since 2017.

By about a week, this is the earliest Swarm year ever in spite of the cold, rainy weather we had, and the roughly normal rainfall.

2023 had the highest end-of-the-season total of around 450 swarm calls.  That was a wet year.

If you set out swarm traps, and some of these swarms move in,  it'll perhaps lighten the load on the swarm-chasers
who I fear may get burned out,   and tired of seeing their phone explode.

If you're thinking of getting bees, please help us get these swarms placed.
If you haven't inspected, please do.  You may be able to head off some swarming by opening up space in the brood boxes.
There's abundant pollen now, so pollen frames will be ignored, so you can take them out or move them up into the honey supers.

Please, let's try to not contribute to the swarm problem by managing our hives, and splitting them.  :-)

Pardon the ranting!

Cheers,
jerry

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Safety first! No swarm is worth risking injury to self, or host.
Make sure you're familiar with the swarm catching guidelines at
<https://www.alamedabees.org/swarm-catching-guidelines/>.

To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options, to learn how
to filter these messages, or to view the archives, see:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------
Safety first! No swarm is worth risking injury to self, or host.
Make sure you're familiar with the swarm catching guidelines at
<https://www.alamedabees.org/swarm-catching-guidelines/>.

To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options, to learn how
to filter these messages, or to view the archives, see:
<https://www.alamedabees.org/swarm-list-tips/>.

--

Sverre Slotfeldt

Bay Area Bookkeeping Solutions

(510) 626-0621 

www.bayareabookkepingsolutions.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Safety first! No swarm is worth risking injury to self, or host.
Make sure you're familiar with the swarm catching guidelines at
<https://www.alamedabees.org/swarm-catching-guidelines/>.

To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options, to learn how
to filter these messages, or to view the archives, see:
<https://www.alamedabees.org/swarm-list-tips/>.