Hi All,
 
I also am new at this.  A friend of mine put 30 hives on my property about two
months ago.  He had an extra suit and mask so I have been helping him work the
hives.  In the beginning, the hives were swarming at least once every two days.
 Things have settled down now and it has been over a week since the last swarm.
 I have been building hives and frames every spare minute of the day to house
the swarms that have been taking place.
 
Next to the hives are three cedar trees with the largest being about 12 feet
tall.  Every time there is a swarm, you can count on them landing in one of
those trees and generally on one of the lower branches.  It has been so easy to
just walk over to where they are, lay the bottom box under the swarm, cut the
branch and lower it into the brood chamber.  Once in, I give a little shake and
remove the branch.  Most all the bees just stay there while I place the lid on.
 Inside I have already placed two frames of brood and honey from the hive that
the swarm has come from.  I then fill it up with frames with foundation only
and move it over to the area where the majority of hives are.
 
I have done this about 6 times and have had absolutly no problems.  All hives
are actively producing eggs and life just goes on.  I'm hoping that this is
normal!
 
I've heard others say that a good bee keeper shouldn't be letting his bees
swarm so much.  My friend sort of agrees but works fulltime and has very little
time to spend on them like I do.  We both sort of agree that with the
devastation that bees have seen in Southern Oregon, he is doing a good thing to
let a lot of swarms go back into the hills.
 
Any comments?
 
By the way, I belong to many repeater services like this but none have the
activity this on has.  Sometimes I feel that I am in overload with all the
information available here.
 
Thanks you all for such a good service.
 
==========================================================
  John A. Rickert              >> (541)-846-6041
  441 Horizon Hills Road       >> [log in to unmask]
  Williams, Oregon 97544       >>
==========================================================