Down at the bottom are links to a bunch of swarms I have captured so please read to the end.  Immediately below is the tale of my first swarm (or maybe first few swarms).

This is definitely not recommended at home but I couldn’t see just letting them go. I had to reach into the tree with a hoe in order to bend the branch down far enough for me to cut it so I could carry the bees down.

I was able to get the swarm down successfully and I didn’t even scratch my truck! I was terribly attached to that old Jeep pickup. I brought my first hive of bees home in it…cradled gently in the bed one evening…ah, the hum of the bees is like mother’s milk

This swarm had me howling…I got a call and the guy had been mowing with a riding mower. He was working around this tree in his yard when he came face-to-face with the swarm of bees. When I got to the house, I could see the mower track going around the yard. The path neared the tree then shot off in a random direction away from the tree. The swarm was about face-high-on-a-riding-mower in this tree and the owner had just experienced a close encounter!

The bees took to the cedars again. This one was on a hot day so I decided to wear shorts. Like the ladder in the pickup truck, this is not necessarily recommended for home users. Remember, I play a beekeeper on TV!

This swarm was all tangled up in a chain link fence. I tried hand-scooping them into a hive for awhile but gave up on that. Instead, I just pulled back on the fence and let ‘er rip. They fell perfectly into the box. They have turned into a great colony

On a chain link fence…now that’s fun!

Another one on a chain link fence

One of these hives is preparing to swarm…can you guess which one? I just happened to be right in front of it when they erupted out of the hive and buzzed around in the air. It was absolutely crazy and really really cool. I suppose they buzzed around like that for 5 minutes and then they all returned to the hive. They wanted to swarm I guess but they never did. I guess the queen was happy where whe was. I am not sure what happened but they remained strong through the season

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-A late season swarm

-A weekend of swarms! – Part II

-A weekend of swarms!

Two swarms so far

How not to catch swarms of bees

First swarm of 2013

Up on the roof-top (2012)

2011 swarm at the mall in Charleston

2010 swarms in South Hills and Dunbar

2010 swarm at the gravel yard in Charleston

2010 swarm in Nitro

2010 swarm in South Hills

2009 swarm in Kanawha City, WV