Now for the bad news and what I learned from the experience (at least what I THINK I learned). First, the bees yesterday that I put in the Warre hive started attacking the hive of bees that came from the elementary school, and a number of bees died in front of the small hive. Many ants came out and started eating the dead bees. The mistake I made here was to not wait until dusk to put the bees into the hive. If I had done that, I think they would have settled down over night and been O.K. by morning and not have gotten involved with the other hive. The second thing I noticed was that the bees from the swarm I collected on Monday appeared to be gone from that hive box. I verified that this morning, and they definitely are gone. There was only a tiny cluster of bees remaining in a clump in the rear of the hive–probably foragers who had not made it back in time to join the rest of the bees when they decided to leave, and now they don’t know where the other bees went so cannot follow. I think my mistake here was that I did not give them enough room so they left because they were too crowded. I remember thinking on the day I got them, “I wonder whether one box will be big enough or whether I should give them two boxes right off the bat?” I think I should have given them two boxes. They could have left for a different reason, but I think lack of space was probably the reason. If I had it to do over again, I would have given them two boxes, and that is what I intend to do if I get another large swarm. Oh well, live and learn. Sometimes the bees just don’t care for the accomodations you provide them and you just don’t know what the reason is.
I will mention here that it has been very gratifying to receive the calls from the city and ward offices about the bees. Last year I only got a couple of calls toward the end of the summer and they were both swarms of western honey bees (Apis mellifera) that I was not really interested in, but went and collected anyway. One of them was up high in a tree at a public park and was very difficult to capture. It took me 3 or 4 times before I succeeded and I almost gave up, but finally got them. The person who works for the city and gave us the call was there on site and observed how it went. I think he was impressed, and I think that is the reason I am getting these calls this Spring. In Japan, connections are really important, and I am very grateful for them and the help I have received. Dr. Satoshi Kamitani of the Kyushu University Entomology Department has been kind enough to help me, borrowing a University car and driving me to the places where the swarms were located. He also took the photographs posted here.
I hope we get a few more calls. You never know. I did not expect to get this many, but am very grateful that we did.