Wild Fail

Don't worry, it's wild bee fail not wild horse. 

 J got a call last night about a swarm of bees down by the creek.  So this morning we got up early so I could help him before work.  He was told they were on a little bush.  When we got there the bush is more like a tree and they were hanging between 3 different branches.  We had only taken some hand pruners but really needed a saw.

 Anyway, we gave it a try.  I had an extra super, frames, bottom board and top.  J set it under the swarm and gave the branches a big shake.

 Unfortunately, a large clump missed the box and landed on the ground.  It doesn't really matter where most of the bees go as long as the queen is in the box.  We just aren't good at finding the queen yet, so we had no idea where she was.

 You can see a bunch of bees on the ground here.

When the bees stick their rear ends up and fan, they are signaling with pheromones to the other bees where to come.  I thought this was a good sign until I saw bees back on the branch and on the ground doing the same thing. 

We ended up leaving the box, (I had baited it with some honey too) hoping the bees would all go in.  But when J went back later in the day they were gone.  He found the swarm on the hitch of a trailer parked in the field next to our property and gave up trying anymore.  Well, you don't know until you try and we are getting more experience.