This is very cool. I haven't seen any of this process before. You didn't have gloves in a couple of those pictures. Did you get stung? BTW, congrats on the new job.
Swarms are very docile - I could have done it all with no suit, except for when I squash them accidentally. The suit is still a good idea though, for keeping the curious ones out of your sleeves, for example.
Healthy hives usually want to swarm in the spring. When it occurs, the bees raise several new queens, then just before they hatch, the old queen leaves with (usually) about half the colony. They alight very near the old hive and cluster until they decide where to go. This tree was right next to the parent hive - 10 feet away. It's the hive of the father of a friend of mine. Got this one because she knew I was looking for one.
So interesting. I had no idea that this was how it was done. So, if you are getting a hive of your own, you essentially have to wait until one splits? Great photos Brian, I enjoyed the tour. And CONGRATS on the new gig, look forward to hearing about it.
Another way to start is to buy what is called a "nuc" - a small "nucleus" hive with a few starter frames with brood, some bees, and a queen. Bee queen breeders will sell you queens or nucs (you can split a large hive, add a queen to the queenless half, and you've got two). That's artificial swarming, another way to increase colony numbers.
My daughter got stung for the first time recently. On her toe. Has been walking around pointing at her foot ever since saying "ouchy... kiss it". Pretty darned cute. Was glad to see she didn't have a bad reaction. briandmyers, is it true that the more you are stung the worse the reaction becomes? Kind of the opposite of building up an immunity.
I know that it is possible to have normal reactions to stings and to later eventually develop allergic reactions, but beyond that, I don't know. To me, bee stings are painful but not overly so, it leaves a red bump for a few minutes, and is gone. I knew an older beekeeper who stung himself intentionally every day as a preventative of arthritis (he believed).