The burg.. well, Greensburg

We received a call last night for a swarm down in Greensburg. We decided to go pick it up this morning, but first we had some shopping to do. Off to Lowest we went! According to the people with the swarm, it was located ~10 to 12 feet up in a tree, so we picked up a 6 foot A-frame ladder. We also bought a tarp in case some bees ended up on the ground again. Our friend Ben came along for some bee capturing fun!

This was by far the biggest swarm yet. It seems like I keep saying that, but so far it has been true every time! The swarm was located about ~12 feet up on a pine tree limb no where near the base of the tree. Unfortunately, our ladder was not tall enough (guess we need an 8 foot one) so we had to borrow one from the house we were at. The ladder we borrowed was the leaning type so that made the operation a bit more difficult, especially since the swarm was far away from the center of the tree. We decided to spend a lot of time planning this one out due to the obvious difficultly of the removal.

First, we placed the tarp underneath the swarm. Since we were stuck with the leaning ladder, we had to cut the branch near the trunk of the tree. This made the branch a lot longer and heavier then if we were able to cut right near the swarm. This was the first time we needed to use the saw due to the thickness of the limb. I slowly cut the branch, while Shark stabilized the limb. Since the limb was so long and heavy, it was likely going to fall and bring the bees down with it. Shark did a great job guiding the limb to the ground and got all the bees into the box or on the tarp. Once they were on the tarp Shark skillfully slid them into the box. I can tell you that tarp was the best $4 investment we have made yet!

We waited around for about 20 minutes and most of the bees made their way into the box. It was getting pretty crowded in there. I was a little worried about the size of the box, but somehow the bees managed to fit. After a couple of scoops with our handy KFC cup, we capped the box and were on our way! Overall, it was a very successful swarm removal! Plus, Ben warmed up to the bees after a while! He even wore the bee suit!