All,

Was home for lunch when the wife shouted something about a swarm! Sure
enough this hive was boiling bees out ninety to nothing. First some
history on the hive.

This hive had swarmed a week ago and I was lucky enough to get the queen
and a cupful of bees. Her wing was clipped so she couldn't go far and the
main swarm had taken off looking for her. She was only about 10 feet in
front of the hive on the ground. So I took her and the bees with her and
put them in a new brood box. Pulled 2 frames of capped brood and bees plus
1 frame of honey from the hive, put foundation and a hive feeder in and
closed it up. Pretty soon here comes this HUGE cloud of bees back into the
original hive.

Today here comes another swarm of bees out. Or was it a mating flight?
Lasted about 15 minutes and everybody started going back in to the hive. I
know this hive had 4 queen cells in it after the first swarm because I
broke it completely down and looked at all the frames. Found at least 1
queen cell open so closed the whole thing back up and now I'm just waiting
for brood. Never saw any inclination to gather on a tree limb and the main
cloud seemed to be at least 20 feet or so in the air. I really think it
was a mating flight, but guess time will tell. Anyway it was a unique and
interesting experience.

Gary Johns