Spring is here and so is the time to make your honey! If you have a swarm in your backyard I will tell you how to catch the bees. If you have beekeeping then I assume you already know how to collect and pack your honey from the honeycombs.
Catching a swarm isn’t easy the first time you do it. When you realize the bees are coming out to swarm and not just working hard, you can try to settle them.
When the air becomes thick with bees, get a metal pan and spoon and start banging on it. This helps to settle the swarm into one place.
Once all the bees have settled into a ball, collect them into a hive box. Ideally, the swarm will have settled low enough to get the box under it to the position where you can brush them into the box. Sometimes if they settle on a limb you will have to cut that off and then shake that over the hive box.
Make sure the top is removed. Take a few frames out when you are brushing or shaking the bees. You can replace the lid when the bees start going in. You can tell if the queen has gone in because the other bees will start “bowing” to her as they’re going in.
Dra. Martha Andrea Castro Noriega, MD 