Interestingly Gareth, Brian and Paul, this e-mail from Gareth has not
come into my bt account but has come into my G-mail account without
issue. I suspect it's lurking in my spam folder on the bt server where I
found ALL the missing e-mails including some from myself to the group
and many from Gareth. I'm guessing it's Bt that's been the issue all
along. I believe Gilliane has had the same problem....seems a theme here
Brian...NAMED BT ! I have a friend who is so annoyed by bt that she's
ditched them for everything. I'm thinking about it !!!
BW Ann
On 28/04/2019 18:50, Gareth John (Redacted sender grjohn for DMARC) wrote:
Supplementary thought – can drumming be used to move a swarm up into a box?
There are those who say that drumming can be used to encourage swarms to settle (drumming pots and pans to do this is called 'tanging'). There are also those who maintain that settled swarms can be encouraged to move, and even fly to a skep, by means of drumming. I have no direct experience of either. I seem to recall Jacqueline Freeman having something to say about attracting a swarm to a skep by drumming, but I might be misremembering as it is a while since I read her book and I have not discussed this with her on those occasions when we have met.
If anyone is interested, I could ask her.
Gareth
On 28 Apr 2019, at 09:08, Brian Fiddian <brian.fiddian@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:brian.fiddian@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Good question Jane & Patrick.
Drumming drives the bees upwards (as I understand it).
We wanted to move the bees already in the hive up to the top. This would free the space round the entrance and help clear the log jam.
Next time we will start drumming earlier ….
Supplementary thought – can drumming be used to move a swarm up into a box?
Regards Brian
*From:*oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx><oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>*On Behalf Of*Jane and Patrick Denby
*Sent:*27 April 2019 20:12
*To:*oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Subject:*[oxnatbees] Re: Prime Swarm
Thanks for this Brian and Faith. Hopefully we can add our story of bees at Dee Cottage this Summer. The photos are great, so many bees and I am interested by the drumming. I thought it was used to get bees out of a hive, but you used it to get bees into a hive?
Cheers Jane and Patrick
On 27 Apr 2019, at 18:44, Gilliane Sills <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Thanks for this Brian and Faith - it's very useful, and good to have the photos. And Magalie's and your experience with the way drumming can be used to move the bees around (and thank you paticularly Gareth for that insight) is very interesting.
You mention the importance of a large entrance when bees take themselves in to the hive, and I've had the same experience of the entrance becoming blocked so that a considerable number of bees end up on the face of the hive. However, with a horizontal top bar hive, there's no way of changing the size of the entrance and I've been lucky that the queen did get inside even though not all the bees did. In my case, the bees eventually took themselves in. Your tactic of feathering the cluster off the face of the hive on to the sheet could also be used with a horizontal top bar hive, so I'll remember that.
Best wishes
Gilliane
On 27/04/2019 17:59, Brian Fiddian wrote:
Here is a recent experience of moving a swarm into a hive. We learnt a lot and hope it might be useful for your swarm when you get it.
*23^rd April 2019*
In Bicester one of Karl’s hives produced a prime swarm which after settling in a cherry tree was caught by him. We collected it just before 5pm. The car journey was about 20 minutes. Although Karl had taped up the box securely we wrapped this in a sheet secured with a cable tie, just in case. The chiller in the car was cranked up a notch and driver mode set to cautious.
Back home and the box was placed in the garage to settle down. The sheet was removed to reveal that one straggler bee had come too – she attached herself to the grill on the box to chat to those inside.
*24^th April 2019*
We turned the box over so the bees would not be on the flaps at the top of the box. However some of the Duck tape must have loosened and a cluster of 25-30 bees were flying in and out of the garage. Karl advised hiving after 2 days but we thought it best not to wait as some were out of the box. We erected a gazebo as rain was expected and set up to hive at five. We moved the hive forward relative to its floor to create a bigger entrance at the bottom of the box (Warre) and most of the bees were shaken out onto the sheet. It took 3 or 4 firm shakes of the box. There were a lot of bees!
<image001.jpg>
Straight away the nearest bees set off into the hive but after half an hour a good many bees were up the front of the hive and the rate of entry had slowed down. By sunset bees were still up the front of the hive and clusters away from the hive were not going to move. All bees were firmly clinging on to each other and the surface they were on. The temp was expected to be around 9^o C overnight and the gazebo would keep most dry. We put the box over the largest cluster on the sheet. We hoped they would be alive in the morning. Inside the hive the bees had clustered inside the entrance and had not gone up to the top.
*25^th April 2019*
Bees had moved in and up very slightly the next morning but we were concerned that there was no queen or the queen was in the wrong place. The bees on the front had a bulge where we suspected the queen was.
<image012.jpg>
We put some wedges of wood to lift the front of the hive away from its floor to allow more space to enter and feathered the cluster off the front of the hive onto the sheet (around 10:40 am). This did the trick and accompanied by some drumming on the hive, using an empty 2 pint milk carton, the bees entered the hive.
Temperature sensor data showed that at this point the top bar sensors rose to early 30s^ o C and that the bees had moved up to the top.
<image002.png>
<image014.jpg>
Throughout the day the isolated clusters revived by sunny intervals made their way into the hive and the last cluster that had had a few wettings from the run off from the gazebo were still alive and given a helping hand from the feather and all were in by about 5 o’clock - 24 hours after starting the process. Just before sunset we put the hive on the stand and colony/Cherry/was established.
<image003.jpg>
The learning things we got from this:
* You can’t over prepare for a car journey with bees in the back
* The gazebo saved lives; but do spend more than £15, ours was a
right faff to set up between the hive and the apple tree
* The prepared area of the hive entrance was extra-large but
didn’t have enough height. So when the queen retinue came
chasing up the ramp it must have gone over the workers in front
and up the front of the hive. This resulted in deadlock. The
thousands of bees inside stopped going up and the entrance was
blocked so the queen couldn’t/wouldn’t go down and in. For a
large swarm the entrance needs width and height.
* The bees can survive a long hiving process, we kept them dry.
There were only 10’s of casualties in the whole process.
The bees have been busy ever since, looks like they are going to stay.
Best wishes, Brian & Faith
Brian Fiddian
Brian.fiddian@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:Brian.fiddian@xxxxxxxxx>
07722 959882
01865 512614
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From:*Karl Pattison*<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
Date: Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 7:40 PM
Subject: [oxnatbees] Prime Swarm
To: <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
A lovely day for one of my hives to swarm, captured and boxed early afternoon.
Telephoned people on the priorities list-those without bees but no one answered.
Eventually working my way through the list I got an answer and this prime swarm went to Brian & Faith in Summertown.
Bee close to your phones peoples as it’s swarm time!
I’ll hoping to have another swarm from the third buzzing hive soon !!
Karl (Bicester)
--
The Map House
Vernon Avenue
Oxford
OX2 9AU
01865 721644
