I received a swarm call referral (through David Stover) from a family down in Chesterfield (Andy and Pat). When I arrived, it was a nice-sized swarm that was positioned perfectly on a shrub off of their front porch. While talking with Pat and Andy, I commented that it was not a huge swarm, but a nice one none-the-less. Then came the drum roll, to which they responded ‘If you think that one is nice, you should have been here last week!‘ Heh. Hard words for a beekeeper to hear, but sort of funny.

Fortunately, they had taken a picture of the primary swarm, with the old queen. The real benefit to me was knowing that I had a virgin queen in this swarm, which has to be checked a little differently (it mainly means that I definitely want to give them a couple of weeks to get going and then I have to make absolutely certain that I have a mated queen that is showing signs of a solid mating.) Either way, it’s great news as it represents an influx of genes into my queen mating area. I actually used the hive to start a new outyard about a mile from my main queen-mating yard. I hope to add at least two more hives (with more new genes) to the yard over the next couple of months. This hive will be called the ‘Chesterfield Hive’ going forward!

The neighbor had actually located the main hive, well up in a nearby tree. The weather has been so great that they issued two swarms (and maybe more to come.) More signs that the year is getting off to a ‘charged up’ start!