u/RustedMauss

Just as a bee,
without hurting the flower,
its colour or scent,
gathers its nectar and escapes,
so should the sage roam in the village.

(Dhammapada 4:49)

Just sharing some pictures from this Spring’s honeybee swarm collection. One of my hives swarmed (unwelcome but not bad either) but the girls were kind enough to settle in our cherry bush at ground level. I was able to hand collect them seated, found the queen halfway through, making the rest just come into the. Ox on their own. Very pleasant.

Blacksburg, VA, USA. I thought it was one of mine swarming since one hive had -by all appearances- a swarm exit then land a few feet away. Thankfully close to the ground so I just gathered them up. But post capture on inspection my girls did *not* swarm, so maybe they just got really excited? Never could spot the queen, but she must had made it in anyway since the whole gang went into the box my nightfall. Anyways, I still love to show the beekeeper party trick of just barehanding a cluster handful by handful and chucking them in a box. Only got stung once. Admittedly not easy to fish them out of a bush. Would’ve been way easier if they picked a branch.

48 hours later my girls did -different hive- swarm, and clustered right of Buddha. Made for a cool photo, and I was able to sit with a box in my lap and get them seated, found the queen midway and clipped her. Very pleasant.