Thank you Gareth. I'll leave them then. It was a big swarm and will
probably quickly fill them.
Helen
On Sun, 28 Apr 2019 at 20:40, Gareth John <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Convenient indeed!
I may remove one of the boxes tomorrow, if they are in the top two. Does
anyone have advice on this?
I’m increasingly of the view that a swarm measures the volume of its hive
when first occupied and adjusts its behaviour accordingly. Thus I shy away
from changing volumes.
Gareth
On 28 Apr 2019, at 19:43, Helen Nunn <helenmaynunn@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Don't you love convenient bees? This afternoon (Sunday) my big colony
swarmed, as I've been expecting for a week or two (the TBH was full, with
21 bars). My new Warre hive (thank you Ann Poulter!) was set up with two
boxes, waiting for the big event. The bees clearly fancied it, but decided
to cling to one side, rather than going in the entrance. See photo 3b.
I took a third box, removed the hive roof, shaking off the top third of
the swarm on to a ramp, and balanced the extra box on top of the other two,
above the remaining two-thirds, hoping they would ascend into it. See photo
5b. Looked in both area for the queen but didn't see her, though she must
have gone in somehow, as the bees on the ramp began to go in the entrance.
The side group didn't make much progress at all, so I used a flexible
chopping mat from the kitchen to scoop sections off and tip them on to the
ramp. See photos 18b and 20b.
Then the entrance got blocked and a magpie feather came in very handy,
gently poked through the bees and wiggled about to open up a channel.
After a total of about three hours they are all in with very few
casualties and no aggression. I may remove one of the boxes tomorrow, if
they are in the top two. Does anyone have advice on this? When I left them
this evening the queen and about half the bees were in the top box, the
latecomers, also about half the swarm, were in the bottom box, and just a
small handful in the middle one.
Helen
<2019-4 Sidewinder (3b).jpg><2019-4 Sidewinder (5b).jpg><2019-4
sidewinder (18b).jpg><2019-4 sidewinder (20b).jpg>
