As if a bee swarm itself weren’t enough to turn a day bad, Jack from the Self-Sufficient Steward experienced a double-whammy this week.
So, I flunk basic beekeeping once – preempting the swarm is pretty rudimentary stuff and I blew it. But now I have a chance to really earn my beekeeping merit badge by capturing the swarm in the hive body I had prepared to split the colony. So I scramble around, calling in to some experienced beekeepers for advice and re-reading the ‘capturing the swarm’ section.
Then I hustle back out a full ten minutes later, ready for my trial by fire, to find….an empty branch.
mistress beek 
Thanks for the tip-of-the-hat.
As another of your middle-aged men, I’ve seen enough biology to accept that the bees sometimes know best.
I just try to get the full eight second ride out of Mother Nature.
Cool blog !! I want a Top Bar hive now – I have 2 Langstroth hives here in the city but I really want to have a go at a TB – your site inspires me !!
Thank you! Welcome to the site.
Marcia, where are you located? Here in Albuquerque, there aren’t many regulations on bees but I only have room in my tiny yard for maybe 2 hives max. We’ll see how I far this year with my first hive before trying another.