March 23, 2025

Emory University Swarm Rescue 23 MAR 2025

Category: Badass Honey Bees, Hobbies

My first swarm catcher experience – and now I am officially a beekeeper!

Today, the swarm team contacted me about rescuing a swarm of bees on Emory Road near Emory University. As a new beekeeper, I sought advice from my mentors and gathered some supplies from experts. As I was getting ready, the homeowner informed the swarm number that the swarm had left. I paused to think, “The swarm landed in the grass, which means the queen wasn’t very strong. If they’ve left, they likely didn’t go far.” I decided to call the homeowner and ask if I could still come by.

In the end, I was able to rescue the queen and many of her bees, bringing them to my home hive. Now, I can only hope they thrive in their new environment.

Watch my journey here:

https://www.youtube.com/@bebravebebadass?sub_confirmation=1

How did I catch them?

After evaluating the area, I walked around with the homeowner, Nina, to search for where the swarm had gone. Although we were unsuccessful in finding a large cluster of bees, some were still hanging around the original swarm location on a pine cone. I decided to try to capture the remaining bees, hoping for success.

I applied swarm lure to the top of the walls of my Hive Butler and to two old frames from my friend Linda Tillman (check out her beekeeping videos) and laid them on the grass near the bees. Linda has been beekeeping for at least 18 years and is a local expert and member of my bee club, the Metro Atlanta Beekeeping Association. She recommended this approach since I couldn’t shake the bees into my box or place a branch with bees on it, as they were in the grass.

I shook the bees off the pine cone and into my box. Then, I looked around and found a low bush limb with a cluster of bees on it. I took my box over to that location and shook the bees into it. Spotting that cluster on the bush was lucky because I am confident the queen was there.

Next, I picked up the old frames I had left on the grass, which were collecting bees, and shook the bees into the box before placing the frames back on the grass to attract more. While doing this, I observed the behavior of the bees and noticed them lifting their butts. This made me very happy because this behavior indicates their use of their Nasonov glands, which release a scent to mark locations and guide returning foragers, including the queen, back to the hive. In a swarm situation, this scent signals to the other bees where the queen is. Seeing the bees doing this on top of my box convinced me that the queen was likely inside.

I let the box sit for a while, watching more and more bees go inside. Then, I decided to take a peek and record a video. While doing so, I spotted her! I regretted not having my queen marker pen with me because she was at the bottom of the box, and it would have been easy to mark her right away. Oh well.

I looked at my Hive Butler, and since I have the one designed for harvesting honey, it has an opening at the bottom. I decided to leave the butler in the space for a bit, hoping that more bees in the area would go in. So, I put some swarm lure on that opening as well. Next time, I will do this at the beginning. A mistake I made—or at least this is my guess about what happened—was that I then put the swarm lure tub in my pants pocket. Not long after, it seemed that the bees were much more aggressive towards me, and I got my first two stings in my beekeeping career: one on my leg and the other on my face. I had my veil off because I thought I was far enough away. When my bee instructor, Edward, gets stung, he scratches off the stinger. I tried doing that, but my leg has tattoos so that I couldn’t see it. As for my face, I have no idea if I managed to scrape it off. Those stings hurt! A bit later, I reconsidered the swarm lure and put it back in my Jeep instead of in my pocket.

I let the bees settle for a while, then secured the lid, leaving the lower hole open—similar to a hive. I live nearby, so I went home, ate lunch, watched more beekeeping videos, and returned. When I returned, there were just a few bees outside the butler, so I closed the opening, strapped the box, and put it in my Jeep to head home.

Bee Installation

When I arrived home with my small swarm of free bees—my first bees—I realized I couldn’t remember how quickly I should install them in the hive. I contacted several mentors for advice, but no one responded, so I proceeded with the installation independently. Note – Google searches gave me conflicting information, like asking 10 beekeepers a question and getting 20 answers.

One challenge I faced was that Linda had given me one deep frame and one medium frame. The medium frame seemed to be their favorite. To begin with, I placed both the deep frame and the medium frame in the deep box. I knew this could cause some complications, but I wanted to quickly get the bees into the hive. The bee sting on my face was still nagging me.

Given the time of year when everything is blooming, I received mixed opinions on whether to feed my bees sugar water. Since the swarm was relatively small, I provided them with some food. I had the bottom of a water feeder but realized I didn’t have a mason jar. So, I went to the store, bought a mason jar and some sugar, and returned home to prepare a 1:1 sugar-water mixture. After letting it cool, I opened the hive, moved the medium frame to the medium box, and filled the deep box with an extra frame.

I then placed the inner cover on top of the medium box, put my container of sugar water on it, and added the garden lid.

Hive Size

My mentor, Ray, told me that with such a small swarm, I needed to remove the medium box. Duh. I knew this. This is a reminder of why having a mentor or beekeeping buddy is so helpful. When learning something new, it is easy to forget the basics. So, the next day, I did a quick hive inspection, removed the medium box, shook the bees into the deep bottom, and then closed the hive back up. A benefit of this is that now I have an old frame for use in my next swarm-chasing event. While in there, I did not look for the queen but saw that the bees were super busy working.

So now I wait and see. In a few days, I will remove the feeding container and the empty medium it is nested in and put the garden lid back on. Since the hives are close by, I can watch them, and it is fun to watch them take their practice flights. Say some bee prayers for the newly named “Emory Hive.” Watch my summary video here: https://youtu.be/7Ayqg9566xE.

Photo Gallery

Gratitude

Special thanks to the Metro Atlanta Beekeeping Association, Linda Tillman, Ray Jones, and Edward Morgan for their help and advice, and of course, to the homeowners who called the swarm line.

Beekeeping Supplies

I am always nervous putting links into posts for fear they will “break.” So if you try a link and it is broken please message me. Deal? Click on the link and purchase your items! Also, are you a beekeeper and love different items? Post a comment so we can include them!

Hive Butler

Beekeeping Journal/Log

HiveTool

Fogger

Bee Brush

Honey Refractometer

Shims to Level Hive: My hive location is on uneven concrete so I am using these shims to level the hive and make it stable.

Fog Starter: I prefer this kind of starter to light the fuel in my fogger.

Pot for Beekeeping Things

Outdoor Bin for Supplies: I store fogger fuel (mostly Amazon paper, egg carts, bills that come in the mail, and pinestraw).

Honey Strainer Double Sieve

Frame Lifter

Bee Suit: Select a 3 layer suit or jacket. For the beginner who thinks they might be skiddish I recommend the suit until you get more comfortable (then save the suit for your friends that you are teaching and move on to your gear). If you can find a 3 layer with a metal mesh veil choose that as I hate trying to look through a fabric one. Here is what I currently have: https://amzn.to/4c7XaTi

Bee Gloves: If you are a beginner use bee gloves. As you advance you will likely stop using them.

Swarm Supplies

Keep these items in your vehicle ready to capture your next swarm! Note many of the links below are intended to make it easy for you to order directly from Amazon.

Beeproof Box: A bee-proof box or nuc that you will place the swarm into for transport to their new home. I use a Hive Butler. Here is an alternate: https://amzn.to/4j2Q6JJ

Small Pruning Shears

Power Level Shears

Bee Brush

Bed Sheet

Queen Marking Tool: In the event you get lucky like I did and you quickly find the queen in a spot easy to mark it…consider keeping this in your kit. I wish I had it in my kit when I rescued this swarm.

Queen Catcher Cage

Spray Bottle: Fill this with a 1:1 concentration of white sugar:water.

Mosquito Net: Wrap around your box if putting in your car – mostly to calm your nerves.

Step Ladder: I only capture swarms that are 6 feet or so off of the ground so I use those step ladder. https://amzn.to/42qoJ63

Securing Straps: Use these to secure the box (top/bottom) and to where you are placing it in your vehicle. No one loves a swarm of bees toppling over in their vehicle…