Elmwood Park Honey

06/14/2026

Swarm #19 in 2026, in Tina's backyard tree in Bellevue on Thursday, 6/11/2026. It was easy to reach, just 6 feet above the ground.

Tina's grandson was not afraid of the swarm of bees and wanted to get very close to them. He was taught from an early age that when he sees bees on flowers, if he leaves the bees alone, they will not sting him.

I gathered the bees on the tree into my nuc box by holding a frame underneath them and they crawled onto it. Tina told me she will post her video of me doing that on Sunday. When I receive it, I will repost it here on this page.

Once the queen had been put in a queen clip and moved into the box, all of the other bees flew off of the tree and into the box.

They got to ride in first class comfort on the way home, in the passenger seat, right next to me, in the car. I put the air conditioner on high and pointed the vents towards them, to keep them cool. To keep them, and me safe, I put the seatbelt around the nuc box.

After I got them home and looked the next day, the bees covered only one frame of waxed foundation with very solid bees. If they were on honeycomb they probably would have spread out and covered almost two frames.

To help this new, small swarm build honeycomb and brood more quickly, I am feeding them some one-to-one sugar water inside their hive. I only do that a little bit to help them thrive.

If you see a swarm of honey bees, please call me at 402-510-7565. I will give them a good home.

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06/07/2026

I caught the queen in swarm #18 in a tool I use to hold her still while I put a white dot of paint on her thorax. I'm releasing her back into the hive in this video. It takes her less than a second to move into the hive at 8 seconds into this video.

06/04/2026

Swarm #18 of 2026 on a bird feeder in the Benson neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska 6/4/2026. (2 short videos & picture.) A couple in Benson called me to come get the swarm in their backyard. I grabbed my five frame nuc and headed out the door to rush to their home.

They shared great videos they took as the swarm was arriving and landing on their bird feeder. If you have delicate ears, turn the volume down. Lol!

As I scooped frames of bees off of the feeder, I looked for the queen. I found her in the third scoop, put her in a Queen clip and then inside the five frame nuc box. Almost immediately the bees started fanning outside of the entrance, attracting all of the other flying bees and bees off of the bird feeder down into the box. I'll pick up the box and bring them home after dark tonight, when all of the scout bees will stop flying and be inside the hive.

05/30/2026

Swarm #17 in 2026 was REHOMED on May 27th from an apartment building in Bellevue. Curtis called me about the swarm. He was mowing, looking down at the grass. He drove right into the middle of the swarm of bees in the air! Some landed on and got stuck in his beard. He stayed calm because he knew bees that are swarming usually don't sting anyone. He gently helped the bees get out of his beard. He and I talked about bees while I moved them into a 5-frame nuc box I brought with me.

Unfortunately, I didn't know it at the time, but many of the bees in the swarm had found a small hole in the building and they started to move into it before I got there. I did see the queen and put her in a queen clip so she couldn't fly away. She was marked with a blue dot on her thorax, which means she came from a managed hive and a beekeeper put that paint on her to more easily find her during their hive inspections. The blue color indicates she was created in 2025.

The next morning, Curtis called to let me know there were more bees in that area. At my recommendation, he called Ryan Gilligan to bring his heat detecting tool to see if they had moved into the building. They had, and Ryan removed them through a hole he cut in the ceiling of the apartment.

I took the one pound of bees I collected, and the queen, home with me.

If you see a swarm of honey bees, please call me, Mark Welsch, at 402-510-7565. I will give them a good home.

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05/30/2026

Swarm #17 GOT AWAY! On May 26, 2026 I got a call about another swarm from a friend of a friend - with bees landing in a small redbud tree in her front yard. The message was, 'She said just grab them. She’s at work. She has a hive in her back yard, but she can't get them.'

They were still landing, I put a nuc in the car and stopped to fill my car with gas. Just as I was about to call to let her know I was on my way, she texted and said they have left the tree.

The moral of the story is, sometimes swarms stay in their location for less than an hour. So have your gas tank full during swarm season!

If you see a swarm of honey bees, please call me, Mark Welsch at 402-510-7565. I will give them a good home.

If you like this, please give this a "Thumbs Up", and Like and Follow my page! Thank you!

05/28/2026

05/28/2026

Swarm #16 in 2026 was rehomed on May 15th, THE DAY AFTER swarm #14, and in the exact same place! Ariel called me about a second swarm in her tree in Omaha Nebraska. She told me there would be some admirers to watch me rehome the swarm. I got to meet her neighbor Janis and friends Kyle, Lyssa and Ramsey. See the picture of Kyle petting the bees in the swarm! While standing nearby, they asked and I answered a lot of questions about honey bees and why they swarm. I described the steps I was taking to get the bees to move into the box with frames of honey comb - so I could take them home.

After getting the queen and most of the swarm into the box, I was invited inside for ice cream and more good conversation. I also got to meet Ariel's cat who can jump straight up over 6 feet! I've never seen a house cat jump that high.

The bees got to ride to their new home, in our backyard, in first class, in the passenger seat, right next to me, in the car.

If you see a swarm of honey bees, please call me, Mark Welsch, at 402-510-7565. I will give them a good home.

If you like this, please Like and Follow my page! Thank you!

05/27/2026

Watch how I find the queen in the BIG swarm, in the comments for:
Swarm #15 in 2026. It was rehomed on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Betsy called me about a big swarm in her neighbor Ariel's tree in Omaha, Nebraska. Betsy became my friend last year when she called me about a swarm in her lilac bush. She told me Ariel wouldn't mind if I removed the swarm from her tree.

I rushed over and with Betsy's help, I got all of the bees in my 5-frame EZ-Nuc box and took them home at sundown, around 8:30pm. The bees had covered several of the largest branches in the middle of the tree. I scooped bees off of the branches onto frames of honeycomb and put them into the box. I set frames in the tree so the bees would climb onto them, so I could put them in the box. Once the queen had been moved into the box, all of the other bees flew off of the tree and into the box.

They got to ride in first class on the way home, in the passenger seat, right next to me, in the car.

If you see a swarm of honey bees, please call me, Mark Welsch, at 402-510-7565. I will give them a good home.

If you like this, please Like and Follow my page! Thank you!

05/23/2026

Swarm #14 in 2026 was rehomed on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. It was at Brad and Martha's home near Plattsmouth NE. This was high up in a red delicious apple tree. They told me it produced very large and red apples but they were NOT delicious. They said I could cut down the entire tree if it would help get the swarm. First I trimmed some low branches that were in the way. Then I cut part way through the larger branch that held the swarm. Starting at 2 minutes into the video you can see how I carefully lowered it and placed it on top of the 5-frame box where they would go inside, so I could take them home. They got to ride in first class, in the passenger seat, right next to me, in the car.

If you see a swarm of honey bees, please call me, Mark Welsch, at 402-510-7565. I will give them a good home.

If you like this, please Like and Follow my page! Thank you!