# Strange day yesterday.



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Strange day yesterday. Get a call about a swarm , Guy said he had sprayed them with the garden hose in hopes of getting them to leave but they wouldn't. Usally a half to 3/4 hour drive but yesteray it was close to two hours. A big semi load of top soil took for ever to get up to speed off the free way, A wreck in a small town had traffic backed up several blocks and then a gravel train from there to the place where the road widens to 4 lanes.

Guy showes me the swarm in a pine tree about 5 feet up wrapped around the trunk and some of the branches. I get the bee vac I had already set up, the vac and hoses and start sucking them up. There was all of a sudden a bunch flying so I tell Kare there they go as I keep sucking as many as I can. Sure enough the swarm all left the tree swirling in the air as they headded north where a block over there is a big woods and probably a hollow tree or two. I've never had any thing like that happen before.

I close up what I had and bring them home. I don't know if they will stay or not, I don't think I was lucky enough to have gotten the queen. I am sure if I had the swarm would have landed in the hive I was sucking them into. 

We come home and unload them. We are going to town to Auto Zone to get me a fuel filter for the truck and Kare wants some Orange Juice Mejiers has on sale plus some Sea Foam to put in the tank of diesel is about 2.00 dollars cheaper than at Auto Zone even with the vets discount ($1.87 on the filter).

Any who a lady calls the cell as we are sitting waiting for them to clear a tree they fell in the road and were cutting it up where it fell instead of pushing it in the ditch to cut up.

She is down the road on the back side of a lake and has a bunch of bees all over her deck. Since I'm close by and they had just cleared the last of the tree I told her we would come see what she had going on since it didn't sound like a swarm.

Those bees were all over her citnella lamps. I told her to wait till dark then bag the lamps and put in the grarge till they were going to have a evening party and skeeters might be a problem. Got to call her latter and see if the bees are back this morning.

I always have to laugh how a person cam be around a 1500 pound horse and a tiny little honey bee can make a 240 pound man scream like a little girl and run for the house.
The lady even had the cat and dog caged inside the house for fear of them getting stung.

Wonder wat the draw was on the citrnella lamps was?

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Lady called me before I had a chance to call her. she said the bees didn't leave during the evening. they stayed clusterd on one of the lamps all night. 
I offered to go down there and shake the bees off and store the lamps for her. 
she asked if she could do some thing to draw the bees away. I told her to set out some syrup 1:1 in a bowl away from the deck and put some floaties in the bowl too.

 Al


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

Could it actually be a swarm? What would happen if you shook them into a box and took them home?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

When you have about 25 bees on one lamp and about the same on the second lamp 20 feet away and maybe a dozen flying off around the home to the woods across the road It doesn't seem to be any type of swarm I've ever seen.
I also pushed all the bees of the laqmps with my fingers and they are not leg locking like swarms do and there was no queen in the bunches.

 Al


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

I thought that there were more than just 25 bees. Yea, no swarm.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I found out what the draw of the lamps is now. Seems some of the fuel for them contains Lemon grass oil.

 Al


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

As usual the bees know and we don't.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Yes they do.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Lady called me Wednesday evening and said that the bees were still hanging around one of the tiki lamps and would I come do some thing with them. I told her I would come over in the morning.
I took a nuc with me, went out on the deck and removed the torch from the railing bracket, removed the fuel can from the basket and shook the bees about 50 into the nuc.
Brought them home opened the nuc up so they could leave if they wished. they were still in the nuc last evening when I got home from the days work.

 Al


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