LA Backwards Beekeeper Roberta writes:
Kathy called us from Brentwood to let us know that there were two swarms in a sidewalk lemon tree. This was my 5th call of the day to try and find some bees. All the others had left so I wanted to get these before they flew off. Dorothy wanted the bees and came down from Topanga to get them. Kathy posed with one of her neighbors, Ellie, who was out walking her dog Oliver.
Dorothy had already been on a swarm rescue where she scooped out a small swarm from a compost bin with Maurice. That one was a softball-sized swarm, but with a wonderful temperament. But she wanted to start up a second hive, always a good idea.
The smaller swarm was the size of a football and lower in the tree so we did that one first. We cut the branch and then Dorothy put it into a box. Super easy!
Then the we looked at the bigger swarm (probably two footballs) which was in an awkward position. Hmmm....Dorothy took parts of the swarm off of the mass of bees and they dropped into the box with a plop. But with all the little branches we had to shake them into the box. Dorothy was holding the box and she got a good layer of bees on her suit but she stayed sting-free.
The bees were packed up and ready to go home to Topanga. Lucky bees.
—roberta
