SWARMS!

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A swarm of bees contains a hive's old queen and half of the worker bees. They are looking for a new home. Ideally, we want to move them into a beehive before they move into an inappropriate location, like a water meter box or a tree.

To catch a swarm, I place a half-sized hive box, called a nuc, under the swarm. Then I scoop, shake, and/or brush the honeybees into their new home. Once the queen is inside, the worker bees will follow her. 

Once they're in the nuc, these bees will go to one of our bee yards. There, they will get some TLC until ready to move into a full sized beehive. With luck, they may even produce a little bit of honey in their first year.