The Wayward Swarm, Part 3 (283)

Episode 283 – The Wayward Swarm, Part 3

Jim Tew

Listeners, I know we've talked about this swarm a lot, but this swarm has been a unique one. This will be the third week in a row that we've talked about the swarm. Well, it's still here. These bees made a life and death serious mistake. I got my longtime friend and beekeeping associate Jason Farrell with me. Jason's been on the podcast before. He's a good beekeeper. All he needs is some bees. Jason, say hi.

Jason Ferrell

Hello.

Jim Tew

Jason's agreed to do the ladder work, if there's any ladder work to be done, so let's go look at these bees that have been hanging here now for almost five days. Listeners, I'm Jim Tew, and I come to you once a week here at Honey Bee Obscura, where I try to talk about something you do with just plain talk beekeeping.

Introduction

Welcome to Honey Bee Obscura, brought to you by Growing Planet Media, the producers of the Beekeeping Today Podcast. Join Jim Tew, your guide through the complexities, the beauty, the fun, and the challenges of managing honey bees. Jim hosts fun and interesting guests who take a deep dive into the intricate world of honey bees. Whether you're a seasoned beekeeper or just getting started, get ready for some plain talk that'll delve into all things honey bees.

Jim Tew

Squeezing through some bushes. Listeners, I don't know how to soften this for you. Jason, how can we soften this for them? There's dead bees everywhere. There's dead bees on the ladder, dead bees on top of the ladder. I can see bees literally twisting in the breeze. There's one bee flying. It's 40 degrees.

Jason, there are some bees alive.

Jason Ferrell

Yeah. They're actually more active now than they were a few minutes ago. I think because the sun came out a little bit.

Jim Tew

Listeners, I guess what are we trying to do, Jason? Just feed them? Or do you know until you get up there?

Jason Ferrell

Yeah, I don't know yet.

Jim Tew

Jason's going up the ladder. A task that I guess I'm no longer qualified to do. I think this is a ladder of lost causes. I don't think you can get high enough to give them honey.

You see, listeners, what's happening here is it's 40 degrees, lightly raining, and the temperature feels like 33. That's what the bees are experiencing. And we can't shake them. If we break the cluster, they're going to die for sure.

There's all kinds of old parallels and detritus, conflicts, disruptions, so you can't get a box under them and just shake them. I had said before I would try to put a honey frame on an extension paint rod and see if they'd move over. But these bees aren't going to move anywhere.

And could it get any worse? Not much, because this cold temperature is not going away. It's going to be staying for a while, we're thinking.

Not much to be done. How about a bee vacuum? I got a bee vacuum, but I'd have to string an extension cord for about 80 yards. I don't know if I got every extension cord on my property if it might make it, but...

Jason Ferrell

Might be worth a shot.

Jim Tew

Alright, so we're gonna try a bee vacuum.

Jason Ferrell

Yeah, I mean it's not as bad as it looked from a distance, because from a distance what we were seeing was a lot of dead bees hanging off the bottom of the cluster, and the cluster itself was not really showing any signs of life. But now that the sun's been out for a few minutes, I see bees in the cluster moving around.

Yeah, it might be worth a shot to try to get the bee vac out.

Jim Tew

Alright. Come off the ladder and let's get the bee vac out. This is going to be like building a bridge to nowhere.

Jason Ferrell

Yeah, well, I mean what else can we do, right?

Jim Tew

I haven't had the bee vac out in three or four years.

Listeners, we're gonna shut the microphones down while we get set up. So expect a bit of a breakup and disruption while we shut the mics down and then turn them back on.

Listeners, we're back. It has been an absolute hellish 80 minutes. I've got enough extension cords strung out. Jason's climbing a ladder he shouldn't be climbing. I guess I should be making pictures so we can explain to the emergency room squad what happened.

Jason Ferrell

Yeah. Might move this ladder over a little bit. Get a better angle on them.

Jim Tew

I was trying to think how we could use this other ladder, this A-frame, to brace the long ladder. We can't shake the cluster. We got a vacuum set up, which was no short part of a miracle. And Jason's trying to move the extension ladder over.

We've got the vacuum tube set up. It's gonna be a long fall. Ironically, Jason and I did this years ago and we killed the swarm because the tube fall was so long that it killed them.

So with that in mind, we're trying to run a gentle vacuum. I'll be the combat photographer. You ready?

Jason Ferrell

Yeah. I think the only thing worse than climbing an extension ladder is climbing an extension ladder while wearing a bee veil.

Jim Tew

Right. On a rainy day.

You didn't mention that. Alright, listeners, here goes the vacuum. It's a big swarm, listeners.

Losing some bees.

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Jason Ferrell

That might be all I can get from here.

Jim Tew

What's happening to the vacuum?

Jason Ferrell

That I don't know. I think that might be all I can get from here.

Jim Tew

Is the vacuum line plugged?

I don't know. It's just burning out because it's on low voltage. Problem.

They're gonna start coming back out of that tube when I do this.

How much vacuum do you have?

Jason Ferrell

Oh, enough.

Jim Tew

Jason, my vacuum's burning up.

Jason Ferrell

Okay, turn it off then. Smell it burning.

Jim Tew

Okay, that's no good. What do we do? Let it cool down or what?

How they looking? Can you see?

Jason Ferrell

I can't see them.

Jim Tew

Okay. But I'm afraid that... well, they're in there. Good.

And they're very quiet.

Jason Ferrell

Yeah.

Jim Tew

Want to go pour some honey on them? You got two-thirds of them. Of course the queen would be the very last one. Naturally.

We're burning up the vacuum on low voltage. We'll see if I can get them out. There's a good chance they're dead already. Of course they're in horrible shape.

There's a lot of bees in there, Jason.

Jason Ferrell

Yeah, there is.

Jim Tew

I'm gonna dump them out right away.

Jason Ferrell

Okay. Hey, they're alive mostly.

Jim Tew

Yep. I'm just dumping it straight out because there's too many bees in the package. Can you pour a little bit of honey on them? Trying to shake them out. They're all stuck together.

They're mostly dead. If we don't get them out of this cage, they're gonna be all dead.

Jason and listeners, I have never worked this hard for a lost-cause swarm in my entire life.

I'm just gonna dribble some honey on them because I know they're hungry. Don't want to make them too messy.

Alright, back to shaking bees out.

Listeners, I've just shaken out six pounds of bees. Or I'm trying to shake them out. There's so many piled up on the top of the deep.

I don't know, listeners. I've never seen bees look like this. They're just a mat of weak bees.

The ones that I can see are showing a lot of interest.

I put them on top of an empty deep.

This goes down as one of the largest, dumbest swarms I've ever seen.

Didn't happen to see the queen in there, did you?

Jason Ferrell

I've been looking, but no, I haven't seen her.

Jim Tew

Yeah. I'd like to give them more honey, but I don't want to just soak them.

I guess I better put the top on.

They're starting to fly now, which is kind of a good sign, but kind of a bad sign because they don't know where they are.

Jason, that vacuum may have been heating up because it was full.

Jason Ferrell

Yeah, that's what I was thinking after we got that out. That was a lot of bees.

Jim Tew

Are you going back up?

Jason Ferrell

Yeah. I was gonna try to go up this side, see if I can get them because at this point most of the ones that are still up there are on this other side of the tree.

I might be able to swing the extension ladder around, but I might be able to reach them from the stepladder too.

I don't know if I can try to get some more off this side.

You think the vacuum's ready to go live?

Jim Tew

Flip it on and see what you think there, if you got the power draw.

Jason Ferrell

Not a whole lot of vacuum to it.

Jim Tew

Alright. You know, I've never emptied that canister since I've owned it.

What's the chances the damn canister's full?

It's fine. That doesn't seem full.

Tell me when you're having fun.

Jason Ferrell

Wow, this is good old-fashioned beekeeping right here.

Jim Tew

Yep, this is good old-fashioned idiotic beekeeping.

Jason Ferrell

A gray Saturday morning.

Jim Tew

Yep.

Jason Ferrell

A swarm that's a little too big and a little too high up in the tree.

Jim Tew

I wish I could put that ladder under your ladder to brace it.

Jason Ferrell

Yeah, you and me both.

Alright. Turn it off. No vacuum.

Now I'm gonna switch around to the other side here.

Sorry about all the racket, Jeff.

Alright, fire it up.

Jim Tew

We're gonna lose the vacuum.

Oh well. I guess we're done, Jason.

Jason Ferrell

I mean we got a whole lot of them, Jim.

Jim Tew

Yep.

I mean there's still some up here, but man, I would need to do a little more pruning to even...

Yeah, there's hardly a half pound left up there, but I'm sure we got the queen.

Jason Ferrell

Yep, that's optimistic thinking. I'm sure we got her too.

Jim Tew

I'm gonna have a quick look.

Everyone knows it flies out when they go back over there.

Let's see if I can find an inner cover.

I don't know what else to do. If I use a queen excluder, I just restrict them.

Even though I went straight to a queen excluder. Never fails.

How about a misappropriation of a slatted rack?

Jason Ferrell

Sounds good to me.

Jim Tew

I'll sleep well tonight, Jason.

How much did you say you were gonna pay me for this?

This is worth about three thousand dollars. And I'll eat the cost of the $300 vacuum.

Alright, take the lid off.

Listeners, I'm putting a slatted rack on.

And now I'm putting another deep on because every time we open the box bees come flying out.

Alright. You know, let's just... oh yeah. Let's just do that.

Jason Ferrell

Yeah, that's not a bad idea.

Jim Tew

Oh yeah. And then that.

Alright, put the top on.

Jason Ferrell

Yep.

Jim Tew

I just put the cages in there upside down on the slatted rack because every bee that comes back is going to fly.

We keep saying it, but it's not what I want to happen.

Every bee that comes back is flying right over to the swarm site.

Well, except the queen, she's...

Jason Ferrell

Yeah, I saw her in there. She was smiling and happy.

Jim Tew

Listeners, this is about a three and a half hour long segment with a vacuum running for most of that time. I'm sure it's just going to be one of the most exciting things you've ever sat through.

Whether or not these bees are going to survive, I do not know. But they're 95 percent down. We couldn't reach the others.

And I'm dead tired.

I got to go string up 80 yards of extension cord and take a burned-up shop vac back, which did work I might add.

So at this point I'm gonna say bye.

Jason, tell the listeners bye.

Jason Ferrell

Bye, listeners.

Jim Tew

Bye, listeners. I'll see you next week one way or the other.

Till then, Honey Bee Obscura listeners, thank you.