Swarming masses

A bunch of our bees decided to fly the coop (or more correctly, the hive) in search of greener pastures. They opted temporarily for a branch on a very nearby apply tree.

They started this morning, beginning to make the characteristic swarm of bees indicating that they had run out of room, created a new queen and were prepared (at least in part) to move on. They create a cloud of bees which had appeared to take up residence in a cherry tree located in by the goats. Do I have to tell you that the goats were NOT happy with a humongous cloud of bees swarming all around them. We went in to work and figured that lunch time would be the time to move the swarm back into a new hive.

Lo and behold when Tom went outside, there were no bees in the tree and as we walked the yard, no bees had swarmed in any one of the trees. Since he had put additional supers on the hive, the theory was that perhaps they changed their mind and returned to the hive.

This afternoon, just a little while ago, I was outside and there was the cloud of bees again. Upon closer inspection, they had taken up temporary shelter in an apple tree.