In Today's vlog we share some great a news!
After just 36 hours of the swarm trap hanging in a tree we have attracted a swarm!
This is likely the best news we could share with you! Our mentor, Leo, told us there is a 50% success rate on catching wild swarms so we're very happy for this type of early success!!
We've been keenly watching the swarm box on our land and noticed some activity shortly after hanging it. In the morning I saw a few interested bees (most likely scouts) checking out the box, no doubt reveling in the sweet lemongrass and propolis perfume wafting from the box. The seemed to be investigation and measuring this newly found object.
A few hours later we saw a flurry of activity and we got so darn excited. Smiling and hopeful, we kept checking it throughout the day.
Could it happen that quickly? Wow, looks like the bees are here to stay. It's a little early yet to say for sure, but it looks like a swarm has taken up residence in our swarm box. This is great news and we are simply so happy and excited. This is really encouraging us to continue our foray into natural bee keeping.
What this is teaching us is the power of working with nature.
By learning and allying with natural cycles, tendencies and rhythms, we can succeed (almost) effortlessly. This is the essence of permaculture: connecting with and understanding the natural world and using that knowledge to achieve positive and useful results! We simply created the favorable conditions for a bee colony and a swarm decided to make it their home, no intervention on our part.
We will be consulting our mentor as to timing for relocation, and later will temporarily move the box to his place for a couple of weeks. This ensures the bees directional instincts are honored, otherwise moving them a short distance can confuse them. We'll keep you all abreast as we observe this box and the others we have around our home county.
Thanks for tuning in!
Check out our past vlogs on Natural Beekeeping and Swarm Traps:
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS