The owner of Bumble in downtown Los Altos called regarding a swarm near the roof. The bees have been there for a day and never flew away and because Bumble was just about 15 feet away with parents and young children, they called us to relocate them ASAP.
I got up on the roof top and started to look for the queen but couldn’t find her. The bees were probably the stragglers that were left behind when the rest of the family flew to their new home. I got a cardboard box, put one drop of lemongrass oil in there, and the marching started. Took these girls home and smoke-combined them with another smaller queen-right colony.
Wow I didn’t realise that the lemongrass oil would make the bees do that.
I always thought that it was just for attracting swarms, Thanks for sharing that tidbit.
Cool name for the business “Bumble”, seems pretty fitting doesn’t it :).
Thanks
Gary