In March we successfully captured a wild honey bee swam. The swam was spotted in a bush at a business park. The Sprite can was used as a bait to draw them out from under the bush. It was a spur of the moment capture with available materials. Fortunately the beekeeper had his suit and a spare box on hand. Here he is inserting a few frames into the hive box.

The swam gathered under the bush and pine straw.

The beekeeper began to lift out the hive as the bees clustered on twigs. Notice the black specks appearing on the white suit. 

Here the hive is starting to swam around the box as the queen was successfully located. 

Done!

 

Hello and welcome to Carolina Haven! Between our backyard and Swansea tree farm there are 17 hives. This is important to note as the honey taste varies from each location and season. The backyard honey has a light blossom flavor and the property honey has a variety of fruit flavors.  With the winter weather coming we would like to share some pictures of the snow covered hives from last February. We did not have so many then as we do now. Here is a front picture of the covered hives.

A side view showing the hives in the back. 

Another side view

When the weather warmed up we removed the plastic covering leaving the burlap.