Gordy- It sometimes happens that a swarm settles on a tree and does not successfully - and quickly - find a new nest sight. they may begin setting up housekeeping in unusual places... sometimes even under eves or I have even heard of comb being built in the isle of a barn. It is obviously not a good situation for the colony, and they are likely to move on when the opportunity presents itself. Now that you are a beekeeper, you will love to hive these "free bees." Larry Marengo, IL On Tue, 23 Jan 1996, T.G. Paschall, Jr. wrote: > >Gordy Allen-Wardell wrote: > >......Bees in this part of the world don't build nests on exposed > >limbs......... > > I'm new to beekeeping (I'm in the process of assembling 2 hives for this > spring). Gordy's statement has me wondering about something I saw about 3 > years ago. I have a red oak 20 yards or so from my house. The lowest limb, 8 > to 10 feet from the ground, is about 5 to 10 degrees above horizontal. > > A swarm of bees built three combs (about 12 x 18 inches)on the underside of > the limb near the trunk. They drew out the combs and then disappeared. I > removed the combs and found none capped, no larvae, and as far as I could > tell, no eggs. > > The tree is in full sun and the canopy provides only broken shade at best. > Is it that odd to see wild bees do this? Did I see something extraordinary > without realizing it? > ------------------------------------- > | Thomas G. Paschall, Jr. | > | Beech Island, South Carolina USA | > | [log in to unmask] | > ------------------------------------- >