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Guess what! I was able to catch, not one, not two, but three swarms of bees this month!
I am excited to share this story with you. So, it all started two or three weeks ago, where I was sitting at my desk, while gazing out the window as I hosted one of my back to back work meetings for the day. I noticed some “hella” bee activity around one of the trees in my backyard.

I should mention that my sister noticed bee activity in this same tree the week prior during her visit one Saturday. Of course I was too busy and just could not get to the tree to catch them that day. My intention was to press my luck and see if they would stick around for the following day. I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t and were gone by Sunday morning. ?

Alas! All was not lost. Fast forward two weeks, and to my pleasant surprise I observed a crap ton of bees flying around the back yard while chatting to folks on a Zoom conference call. I quickly checked my calendar to see the next earliest window of opportunity that I could grab the ladder, get the smoker ready, and a cardboard box. Sure enough, the swarm ended up settling that afternoon in that same location my sister observed them a few days prior.

Oh, and added bonus! There was another smaller swarm that settled by the shed that I store the bees during the winter. And, wallah, just like that there were two new boxes of bees. ?

There was no way that I was going to let this opportunity get missed the second time around. I queued my dad up to be ready at any given moment to be my ladder spotter. Long story short, I was able to line the equipment up between one meeting, climb the tree, knock the bees off and settle them in the card board box, somewhere between picking my daughter up from school and taking her to Kungfu.

It didn’t end there. I found another swarm by the tree close to the swing set just this week! Yes, and just like that, there were three boxes ?

I’m pretty sure that I’ve located the queen on the first swarm, which is the largest of the three. The other two swarms are smaller and I believe that they will have to create a queen to grow the colony. For now, they all seem quite settled in and content in their new home.

Natalie Grant