The Buzz Newsletter

July 2004

 

 

Page 4

A Swarm to Remember

I was working bees in my yard north of Grundy Center on June 5th. We had received close to 11 inches of rain during the month of May and swarming had been a problem. During the early evening of the previous day some of the hives had bees hanging out the front in brown masses, so I thought I had better check things out.

In the first hive I opened up, I found sealed queen cells on the bottoms of some of the frames - never a good sign. I usually destroy all the younger cells and leave a few of the mature cells, once I'm convinced they did swarm. I'm usually convinced if they are sealed, the old queen is gone. Once in a while I find an exception. As I put the hive back together, I thought to myself, "Another hive swarmed".

A moment later I looked up and almost straight above my head in a cottonwood tree was a swarm, hanging off a limb about 20 feet above my head. They were about 3 or 4 gallons in volume. I spent some time thinking what I should do. I decided to go back home, get the camera, a bucket with a ball of baling twine in it and a hammer.

Upon my return I took a picture of the swarm (it was windy and probably not a good picture). It tied the hammer to one end of the twine and proceeded to throw the hammer over the limb with the swarm on it. I was hoping to catch the limb with the claw on the hammer and shake the swarm and queen into an open hive directly underneath the warm. Time went by and I probably
threw the hammer fifty times over the limb and there were about 50 little cottonwood limbs on the ground. Sometimes the hammer caught and I pulled real hard and shook a few bees down, but never very many. I felt defeated!

Some time later there was a cloud of bees surrounding the apiary. I kept looking for another limb they would land on or a fence post or something. Suddenly, I realized they were floating to the ground and began to enter TWO hives. That's right! They entered two hives. And not the hive I had been working. They flew to the ground at the side of each hive and marched around to the entrance in the front and went inside. This is something a picture could never show since I would never get a good shot of both hives
simultaneously.

In the 15 years I've been keeping bees I have never seen anything like this, and I will most likely never see anything like this again.

And I'm sure the horse in the adjoining pasture got a good laugh.

Submitted by Tim Laughlin

Iowa State Horticultural Society Awards
Request for Nomination

The Iowa State Horticultural Society is seeking nominations of deserving individuals for the Certificate of Merit and Honor Award. Each year the Society recognizes those individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty to promote and contribute to horticulture in Iowa.

The Iowa State Horticultural Society Certificate of Merit goes to individuals who have made a recognizable contribution and /or have provided distinctive service. A personalized, framed certificate is awarded and a biographical sketch is published in The Iowa Horticulturist magazine.

The Honor Award is presented to deserving individuals who have made a "conspicuous and outstanding contribution" to Iowa horticulture. The individual must have already received the Society's Certificate of Merit and should have made significant additional contributions to the field of horticulture. Their efforts should be beyond the local level and/or span multiple aspects of horticulture. The recipients receive an engraved bronze medallion and a biographical sketch is published in The Iowa Horticulturist magazine.

Nomination forms can be obtained by calling Mary Jane Paez at (515) 278-1170 or downloading from the Society's webpage at www.iowahort.org. Nominations must include two letters of recommendation that are at least a full page in length, giving details about the candidate’s horticultural involvement, projects, and contributions. The nomination form and letters of recommendation are due by August 15th and should be sent to Mary Jane Paez, 6165 Crabapple Lane, Johnston, Iowa 50131. Presentations will be made at the Society's Annual Meeting on November 6th at the Iowa Arboretum near Luther, Iowa.

Mike Bevins
State Horticulturist