Stern Grove Swarm

This afternoon I was on my way to Peter S.' house to extract all the honey I removed from the hives yesterday. My phone rang and I forgot until just this second that it is against the law now to talk on a cell phone and drive, so I answered and it was Peter S. He had just got a call from the fire department and he needed to go catch a swarm in Stern Grove that was "on a bench." We agreed that catching a swarm would be more fun than extracting honey so I met him at his house and helped him load up the nuc box and some other stuff for catching the bees.

We arrived at 20th and Wawona, right on the edge of the park, a steep ravine filled with eucalyptus trees bordered by lawns and paths and benches. We drove right in through the service entrance, thrilled to be driving in the no drive zone since we were Official Beekeepers. At first we did not see anything by any of the benches we passed. Then the park gardener rolled up in his red electric mini truck that lucky city gardeners get to drive around in. He pointed out the bees in a tree "over that way" but we still did not see them. We worried they had already moved on but then I saw a long dark arm-like shape dangling out of a holly tree about six feet off the ground. There was our swarm.

The first cut we made was a mistake. The branch the bees were hanging on turned out to be two branches and only half the bees came down. A blob of them fell to the ground in front of the nuc box we had set up under the swarm. The second cut was better and we got the rest of the swarm and laid them on top of the open nuc box to let them make their way in. Meanwhile, the ones that fell were marching right into the box via the landing board. They just know right where to go...right into their new deluxe accommodations.

The gardener hung around and peppered us with questions and talked about how it warmed his heart to see the bees here and how worried he was about them and did we know why they were dying out and he was extra worried ever since he found out Haagen Daz was concerned and people who make candles and how much he loves ice cream and how he got stung by some when he was mowing the lawn and oooweee did it hurt but he tried not to be mad because he likes honeybees. On the 5th or 6th cycle of his speech Peter S. wandered off to his car and I was left to nod and smile and hope the guy would be on his way soon.

We left the box there till dark so the field bees could return to the hive.

It took about 2 hours to cut the wax caps off the super frames, put them in the extractor and whirl it around till all the honey flew out.

SEVEN GALLONS!